Wales let a 12 point lead slip in extreme heat at the Mikuni World Stadium in Kitakyushu as they failed to bring an end to their losing run as they went down to a 24-19 defeat to Japan.
It was an 18th successive defeat which saw Wales slump to 14th in the World Rugby rankings as the Japanese moved up to 12th. The two teams will meet again next weekend in Kobe.
Dewi Lake’s side led from the third minute to the 70th, when a driving line out from the home team saw them finally hit the front and bag a morale boosting win.
It was the worst possible start for Wales as Dragons skipper Ben Carter took a serious blow to the head on the Japanese 22 in the opening phase of play and went down with only 27 seconds on the clock. He was quickly attended to and carefully taken off the field. We send our best wishes to Ben for his recovery.
Dragons back row Aaron Wainwright came on as a second half replacement but scrum half Rhodri Williams was unused.
