Wales 28-21 Japan: Steve Tandy's side labour to Nations Championship win

Tries: Griffin, Adams 2, Rees-Zammit Cons: Costelow 3, Edwards

Tries: Gunter, Dearns, Fukuda, Cons: Saito 2, Komura

Wales resumed their Nations Championship campaign with an unconvincing bonus-point victory against Japan at the Principality Stadium.

Tries from prop Archie Griffin, wing Josh Adams and the rejuvenated Louis Rees-Zammit gave Wales a 21-14 half-time lead, with Japan responding with scores from flanker Ben Gunter and lock Warner Dearns.

In a nervy second half, Adams scored his second try before Japan replacement Kenta Fukuda ensured the visitors finished with a losing bonus point and presented a frantic finale which the hosts survived.

Wales secured a fourth win for head coach Steve Tandy in 13 internationals and provided another narrow victory against Eddie Jones' Japan to mirror the last-gasp Jarrod Evans penalty that sealed a one-point win 12 months ago.

Wales were indebted to strong ball-carrying performances from player-of-the-match Rees-Zammit, full-back Blair Murray, back-row duo Morgan and Wainwright and centre Eddie James.

Tandy should be very concerned about their malfunctioning line-out with six lost, the way they allowed Japan to stay in the game, worrying indiscipline, and wasting attacking opportunities with silly handling errors.

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Wales stay in fifth place in the northern hemisphere table after returning to the inaugural international competition.

They had started the tournament in July with a home win over Fiji and defeats in Argentina and South Africa, while Japan had defeated Italy but lost to Ireland and France.

The game was played in front of 52,425 supporters, which was 2,000 more than the opening match against Argentina last November but 9,000 down on the attendance that watched the match against Japan in Cardiff in 2025.

Wales host New Zealand next Saturday before finishing the regular league campaign against Australia, while Japan will travel to face England and Scotland.

Allianz Stadium in Twickenham will then host a three-day finals weekend at the end of November. If the tables stay the same, Wales will play Japan again for the fifth-placed finish in south-west London.

Familiar foes return for another Cardiff date

Wales and Japan have been frequent opponents in recent times, with this representing the fourth meeting between the two nations in 16 months.

Tandy named a record nine English-based club players in his starting side, including six of the pack, with 12 of the 23-strong squad based outside of Wales, with seven alterations from the 43-0 defeat to South Africa in July.

With Ryunosuke Ito unavailable because of his university commitments in Japan, Jones handed a debut to third-choice fly-half Riku Kitahara as part of a half-back pairing with co-captain Naoto Saito.

Rees-Zammit, who has moved back to his favoured wing position after filling in at full-back, lifted the crowd with a searing early break.

It laid the foundations for Lake to power towards the line before prop Griffin, who had not trained on Friday, flopped over for his first Test try, which Sam Costelow converted.

Careless Wales play allowed Japan to steal possession from a home breakdown as scrum-half Tomos Williams was caught, with flanker Gunter outflanking Josh Adams and Alex Mann. Saito converted.

Wales responded with a Wainwright break into the Japan 22, but they again failed to protect possession at the breakdown.

Wales were fielding one of their biggest ever centre combinations in James, 6ft 4in (1.90m) and 16st 3lbs (103kg), and Max Llewellyn, 6ft 6in (1.96m) and 16st 12lbs (107kg).

The pair had not started together at Test level before, as Tandy named his sixth different centre combination in his 13th international.

James had two early bursts down the left-hand side but another knock-on, which was a fifth handling error in 15 minutes, demonstrated the inaccuracy of the opening quarter.

Wales produced a pedestrian attacking period that included Costelow being tackled heavily twice, before Ben Carter was penalised for a neck roll.

Wales showed a more clinical nature as they regained the lead when Adams crossed after prominent build-up work from James, Morgan and Rees-Zammit.

The hosts again let the opposition back into the game because of poor discipline, and Dearns capitalised by diving over as Japan once more levelled the scores.

Wales' line-out issues continued when an attacking set-piece play five metres from Japan's line was thwarted by a not-straight Lake throw.

The home side were able to strike just before half-time with Rees-Zammit starting and finishing the move for his first try in eight internationals.

Rees-Zammit was helped by an eye-catching power burst through a Saito tackle and offload from the impressive James.

The home side were again guilty of conceding possession from the restart, but prop Nicky Smith produced an important turnover on his own line to help Wales lead by seven points at half-time.

Wales had an early second-half chance to score following a well-worked try as Costelow inexplicably kicked possession away with Murray and Rees-Zammit outside him.

The home side also lost another attacking line-out in the Japan 22, while Wales were guilty of conceding more lazy penalties.

Tandy's side were indebted to a Lake turnover penalty, which was the hooker's final contribution as the front row was replaced.

Wainwright and Morgan again powered through the Japan defence but the attacking move again ended with another speculative Costelow cross-kick that Rees-Zammit was unable to gather.

Wales continued to prove wasteful in their attacking endeavours while the line-out misfired.

The home fans were relieved when the bonus-point try essentially sealed the victory, with Murray counter-attacking before feeding scrum-half Tomos Williams, with Adams finishing off the move.

Japan were not finished, and a flowing move was finished by replacement scrum-half Fukuda to bring the visitors to within seven points.

Adams calmed the nerves with a turnover penalty as Wales held on.

When Wales analyse this underwhelming display, Tandy will know they have to improve dramatically before the All Blacks arrive next weekend.

Wales: Murray; Rees-Zammit, James, Llewellyn, Adams; Costelow, Tomos Williams; Smith, Lake (capt), Griffin, Jenkins, Carter, Mann, Morgan, Wainwright.

Replacements: Elias, Carre, Francis, Teddy Williams, Botham, Morgan-Williams, D Edwards, Hennessey.

Japan: Ueda; Ishida, Riley, Tua, Burua; Kitahara, Saito (co-capt); Kamimori, Harada, Takeuchi, Hockings, Dearns (co-capt), Gunter, Shimokawa, Cornelsen.

Replacements: Sato, Otsuka, Helu, Stolberg, Costley, Fukuda, Komura, Lee.

Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Angus Mabey (New Zealand)

Television match official (TMO): Glenn Newman (New Zealand).