Wales look to future after ending 18-game losing run with Japan win
Interim head coach Matt Sherratt said Wales's 31-22 win over Japan on Saturday "has got to be the start of something" after ending their record 18-game losing streak.
The Welsh survived another second-half comeback from Eddie Jones's side in Kobe to pick up their first victory since the 2023 World Cup and consign their wretched run to history.
It was the longest losing streak for a Tier One country in the professional era.
Sherratt oversaw four of those defeats after replacing Warren Gatland on a temporary basis and he backed whoever gets the job permanently to build on the long-awaited win.
"Today is the end of a long season but for Welsh rugby it's got to be the start of something," said Sherratt. "The next guy coming in, a big motivation for the group was to let whoever that is start on a level playing field without the burden of the 18 in a row around his neck."
Emotional scenes greeted the final whistle under the stadium's closed roof, after the Welsh came close to blowing another half-time lead in the same manner as last week's 24-19 defeat in the first test.
A Josh Adams try and a Kieran Hardy double put Wales in control until Japan scored on the stroke of half-time and then added two more tries after the break.
That cut the lead to two points until fly-half Dan Edwards, making his first start for Wales, scored a 75th-minute try to kill off Japan's comeback.
"Around 65 (minutes), you almost felt the sense that things were going quite similarly to last week," said Wales captain Dewi Lake. "So to score that try in the dying moments, it sinks in that you've got the job done, you've won the game and that ultimately was our goal coming out here."
Heat was again a factor with the temperature at 32 Celsius at kick-off, but Wales started strongly and scored in the ninth minute when Blair Murray fed Adams to canter over the line.
Hardy slithered over for a second try, before Adams sliced through the Japan defense and teed up Hardy for a third.
Japan hit back at just the right time, with substitute Shuhei Takeuchi rumbling over for a try on the half-time hooter to give the hosts hope for the second half.
Scores from Warner Dearns and Dylan Riley then shifted the momentum squarely in Japan's favor, before Edwards secured Wales their first win since beating Georgia in October 2023.
"It's been a long time coming," said Lake. "I look back at the tough results we had over the past 18 months, a couple of one-pointers, a couple of two-pointers, probably in the driving seat last week and let it slip.
"So to dig in and get the job done today is an amazing feeling."
Lake said the trust the coaches had shown in the players had been "a massive help".
"The confidence that this will hopefully breed within this group will be huge for us going forward," he said.
The Welsh win denied Japan their first back-to-back victories over a Tier One nation.
Their win last week in Kitakyushu was their first over a Six Nations side since the 2019 World Cup on home soil, where they beat Ireland and Scotland.
"It's not the performance we wanted," said center Riley. "We showed some good stuff, some bad stuff but ultimately we couldn't finish this week.
"We'll have a bit of a break, reset, come back and back to work," he added.
© 2025 AFP
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