Japan's Leitch could see Welsh team 'blowing'

JAPAN captain Michael Leitch says his side could tell Wales were “blowing” in the second half of their 24-19 victory in Kitakyushu.

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The first Test of Wales’ summer tour of Japan was played in extreme heat and humidity, with cooling breaks in each half as well as an extended 20-minute interval.

Leitch believes the conditions played their part as Wales remained scoreless in the second half as their 19-7 interval lead was whittled away.

“Japan heat is no joke,” he said. “I saw their guys out there second half and they were blowing.

“We knew if we could keep the tempo up and hold the position, that would get them in the end and it was part of our game plan.

“I was looking at the guys in the red jerseys and they were feeling it more than us and that was good to see on our part.”

He added: “Preparation going into this game was key to our success.

"We trained hard as a team and Eddie Jones gave us a really good training camp.”