The best team lost and now Wales have to earn some respect
Western Mail
|November 20, 2025
It is clear the better team lost at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.
Wales were inferior to Japan for most of the game, afflicted by a catalogue of errors that led to desperation and a loss of composure for the most part.
We weren't even able to gain the upper hand when they were down to 13 players, which tells a pretty sad story.
Japan are well coached and possess good basic skills.
They also had a far more effective game plan than we did, playing a good brand of rugby within their limitations.
This is everything Wales are not achieving right now.
They certainly gave us a lesson in recycling possession at speed from the breakdown, in the same way most of our opponents have during the past couple of years.
Let's be clear, this group of Wales players should be better than Japan.
We should be competing in the top 10 of the rankings, not trying to desperately hold on to 12th.
However, the way we played, if we had lost the game, we couldn't have complained.
This story is from the November 20, 2025 edition of Western Mail.
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