"I was hiding away"- Steve Tandy and Eddie Jones react to nail-biter in Cardiff

Sunday, 16 November 2025 at 09:37

byHarry Tovey

Wales avoided falling to yet another low as replacement Jarrod Evans held his nerve to win a priceless victory after a reckless challenge from Harry Hockings proved costly.

It was simply the great escape for Steve Tandy’s side.

In the post-match press conference, which lasted 13 minutes, but could’ve lasted longer, the relief on the face of Steve Tandy was so clear to see.

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As the fury of Eddie Jones was almost as loud.

Dan Edwards crossed the whitewash brilliantly in the first half and was accompanied by Louis Rees-Zammit and centre Nick Tompkins, who both scored in the final 40 minutes.

For the Brave Blossoms, Kippei Ishida and Faulua Makisi scored tries with Seungsin Lee kicking 13 points from the tee.

That all proved insufficient, as with this victory for Wales, they remain in the top 12 in the world, which is good news for their 2027 World Cup hopes.

Scroll down for Ruck Rugby’s five talking points from the encounter:

1. “I wanted to kill someone”- Jones stated as Wales won at the death

After only being brought on with minutes left on the clock, Harlequins’ Evans slotted the three match-winning points so calmly, which saw Wales record their first home win in 10 attempts.

It was a dramatic ending to what was a rather poor Test match.

It came as no surprise that Jones was disappointed with his side's performance as he opened with an unwise joke to kick off his post-match press conference.

concluded Tandy.

“Terrible. I wanted to kill someone”, began the 65-year-old, who was sat by Japan’s captain Warner Dearns who laughed.

“That is what I felt like. Anybody I could find. When you lose the game in the last minute at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, it’s tough.

“The atmosphere is electric, the ground lights up, and you have to handle that pressure, and in the last five minutes, we did not do that well.

“We had a lead and should have been able to keep that for the rest of the game.

“I am really proud of the way the team approached the game right from the start to try and win it, which is a good approach for a young team.

2- “We are absolutely ruining rugby” Jones questions refereeing decisions

Jones was later asked about whether the best side had lost, with him quite clearly avoiding answering it. However, he did question some of the refereeing decisions by Matthew Carley.

This was due to three of his players being sent to the sin bin- Epineri Uluiviti, Makisi, and Hockings.

“The only thing that anybody ever remembers is the scoreboard,” he continued.

“That tells the story.

“Congratulations to Wales and Steve Tandy. That is a good win for his side and I am sure he will want to get better.

“It is almost farcical now, the sin-bin situation. We are absolutely ruining the game of rugby. I don’t think any of the actions today were intentional and deserved to be sin-binned. Wales or us.

“We have to have a more sensible approach to the game. There are going to be contacts with the head. Unless it is reckless, which I didn’t see any of those actions being reckless.

“Of course, we have got to have penalties. At one stage, we were down to 13 men; they got a red card, and we are down to 14 men. The game of rugby is about 15 players on the field, and I think World Rugby should be looking at this very closely.”

“I saw the Italy game and (Franco) Mostert, a guy gets chopped in front of him, he is 6ft 8 and tries to drop his height and his shoulder gets contact with the head of the player and is red carded.

“It is becoming absurd. If I was a fan I would be asking the Welsh Rugby Union for my money back. But they can’t afford it so they are not going to give it back.”

3. Tandy on first win as Wales head coach

On Saturday, it was 833 days since Wales last won in Cardiff, that is, of course, avoiding the uncapped Barbarians match in 2023 at Principality Stadium.

It was minutes away from being yet another loss. This would’ve possibly been the most famous loss of all. However, Evans, who remained calm, kicked the three points to the delight of the raucous Principality Stadium crowd.

“I was hiding away in the side,” added Tandy.

“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.”

4. Did Wales use their get out of jail free card?

“When you win like that, you feel like it. But I felt we could do better to win the game,” continued Tandy.

I think there’s always an element (of relief). The support today was incredible.

“The atmosphere was amazing. They got behind the team in defence. I’m a coach, I want to be honest.

“I’m proud of the boys and getting a win. It’s a burden off our backs. We don’t talk about it, but it does sit there.

“It does tell you a lot about this bunch of players that it would be easy to fold. Hopefully, we can move on quicker.”

5. New Zealand are next for Wales

Perhaps, the biggest game of the Autumn is now out of the way for Tandy’s side, as their World Cup hopes aren’t dented after another disappointing defeat.

But, it won’t get any easier for his side, who welcome a bruised New Zealand side to the Welsh capital next Saturday (KO: 15:10).

“We’ll be tough on ourselves.

“There’s never a lack of effort whenever I’ve watched this group, and you can build on that.

“Getting these tight wins is obviously pleasing, but we have to keep growing,”