“It’s very tough to take”- 5 talking points: Matt Sherratt and Dewi Lake react to Wales’ 18th consecutive Test defeat
Rugby NewsSaturday, 05 July 2025 at 10:08
Wales were unable to change the narrative around Welsh Rugby by recording their first Test win in 637 days as Japan came from behind to record an impressive 24-19 win in the sweltering heat of Kitakyushu.
Tries from Halatoa Vailea and Ichigo Nakakusu supported a first half cross from Takuro Matsunaga and the boot of Seugsin Lee guided Japan to just their second victory over Wales, which was also their second consecutive victory on home soil against their opposition.
Both Matt Sherratt and Dewi Lake broke down yet another brutal defeat in the post-match press conference. Here are the five talking points from their immediate reaction.
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1- Another record low for Welsh Rugby
Wales did start the better as they led at halftime 19-7 with Ben Thomas, Tom Rogers and a penalty try being the difference. But as the second half went on the sense of breaking the streak of winning a first Test since 2023 became too much as Sherratt’s men simply fell apart.
,” concluded Sherratt.
“I think you could see the feelings pitchside, not just from the squad but from the whole staff,” began Sherratt.
“It’s a very passionate group, first half obviously 19-7 lead so to lose a game at the end is very disappointing, it hurts.
“Already we got to quickly use that hurt to fuel next week, because the great thing about this tour is we get a chance next week to put it right.
“If i’m honest, I would be making excuses if I said that (about the conditions), if you look at the game, first half we took pretty much every chance we got bar one in their 22, every ball which hit the floor bounced for us and we were on the right side of the penalty count.
“In the second half there was some really big moments, we had a lineout around 45 minutes to take the game to three scores and it was a really tough call from the referee in terms of penalising us and it’s a young group and we’ve haven’t had a win for a while, so those little scars can start to run deep.
“Second half every bounce went for them in the aerial battle, we had some key lineouts in key positions that we didn’t make the most of and the penalty count went away from us. Maybe the conditions added to that but my instinct not so much.”
2- 2027 World Cup campaign hugely impacted
Due to losing in Kitakyushu Wales now have fallen to 14th in the world rankings now below today’s hosts Japan and Samoa.
With the next instalment of the World Cup being extended to 24 Nations Down Under in Australia come 2027, we’ll actually know every team who has qualified for the tournament before the draw takes place later this year.
They’ll be six pools of four teams, with the top ranked six teams in the world rankings being top seeds. Then from seventh to 12th being second seeds and so on. The draw will be based on rankings come the end of the international window in November. Wales are on track to being a third seeded nation for the World Cup.
3- “We’re gutted, it’s very tough to take”- Lake on humiliating defeat
With Jac Morgan away touring with the British and Irish Lions Down Under, Lake returned to captain the side but was replaced with minutes left on the clock by debutant Liam Belcher.
With the way the tide was changing and with Wales already lacking in leadership and experience, this looked not to be a great call by Sherratt as Japan’s front row played the full 80 minutes.
“I don’t want to speak for everyone, but we’re gutted,” Lake said.
“It’s very tough to take, we worked hard, we don’t take nothing away from Japan for the way they played and to come out on top.
“We had our moments to win that game and put it to bed, so very tough to take.”
4- Ben Carter set to miss Kobe next week
The encounter was halted only seconds into the game as second row Carter, went down with a head injury. The medical team quickly called for the stretcher and the Dragons RFC player who’s had a torrid time with injuries, was stretchered off minutes later.
“Ben Carter went off with a head injury, so he won’t be available next week,” added Sherratt.
“We’ll have a discussion as staff and see what we do about that. We’ve got cover here, with Freddie Thomas and Taine Plumtree.
Taulupe Faletau also went off limping but Sherratt revealed that his substitution was a tactical one.
5- Ill discipline in the second half proved costly?
“I don’t think it was one area, sometimes momentum goes against you and if you look at a lot of games, there’s rarely one penalty for one team and one for the other, they usually go in runs of threes and fours.
“We were on the back end of too many of those. I don’t think it’s one area we’re going to look at and that is the fix in terms of discipline, so it’s just lots of little things that went in patches
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