Wales ended a record run of 10 successive home Test defeats giving new head coach Steve Tandy his first win after a dramatic stoppage-time Jarrod Evans penalty secured the result.
Wales had not won a Test on home soil since defeating World Cup warm-up opponents England in August 2023, and Japan went agonisingly close to extending the record.
Tandy’s team, however, overcame a 20-minute red card for Cardiff wing Josh Adams just before the interval as Ospreys fly-half Dan Edwards, Bristol wing Louis Rees-Zammit and Saracens centre Nick Tompkins scored tries, all converted by Edwards, before Evans stepped up off the bench to strike the decisive blow at the death.
Wing Kippei Ishida and number eight Faulua Makisi claimed Japan’s touchdowns, yet it was fly-half Seungsin Lee’s 13-point haul – three penalties and two conversions – that threatened to make a significant difference.
Eddie Jones’ Japan scented their biggest triumph since they stunned South Africa during the 2015 World Cup in Brighton, yet they were ultimately denied as Evans held his nerve.
Japan would have gone above 12th-placed Wales in the world rankings with victory before December’s World Cup draw had Evans’ kick not gone between the posts.
A situation that would have seen Wales placed in the third pot of teams drawn with the possibility of playing two of the World heavyweights of rugby in their pool.
“I was hiding away in the side,” said Tandy post-match.
“I could see the crowd and I could see him going to take the kick, but not the posts.
“You could hear the eruption of the crowd. Fair play to Jarrod and the group – that was some kick under pressure.”
Although Wales just managed to get over the line, the Wales boss felt his side’s performance levels were not on point and expects more from the group.
“Credit to Japan, I thought the way they played was really impressive, but I was disappointed with some of our performance,” continued Tandy.
“I said before, I wanted a better performance than we did last week, I don’t think we got that.
“I thought there were some aspects of the game – the drives and the way we managed the game towards the back end – but I thought we didn’t capitalise on them going down to two yellow cards. We didn’t go forward, and I don’t think we were accurate enough in those periods.
“I love working with this group, they are class to work with, I know there’s inexperience in certain parts, but we do expect more.”
[Lead image: Welsh Rugby Union]