Eddie Jones has joined the long line of people putting the boot into Wales following their hollow and desolate victory over Japan.
The England coach has accused Rob Howley’s side of complacency that saw them scramble their 33-30 win and claimed even the result is devalued by the second string nature of the opposition.
It was Jones who led Japan to their greatest victory last year when they stunned South Africa in the pool stages of the World Cup.
But the Australian underlined that the Japanese side Wales stumbled past on Saturday was a shadow of their best team describing their background as “company rugby”.
“There will be some tears. The Japanese cry when they win and they cry when they lose, so there will be plenty of tears,” Jones said.
“It’s a fantastic result for them and Wales were obviously complacent again.
“You look at the side Wales put out, they shouldn’t be winning by three points against a Japanese team that has seven or eight new caps.
“And those new caps are coming out of company rugby. You or I could play company rugby. It’s not a good result for Wales.”
It was not an unfair description of Wales who have become far more painful to watch then they are to play against.
Replacement fly-half Sam Davies – who saved his team’s embarrassment with a drop goal eight seconds from time – admitted: “The mood in the camp is a bit down at the moment.
“We would liked to have won the game a bit more comfortably than that.
“Personally, I had a job to do at the end, and thankfully I did it. The forwards did a good job getting the ball back, and set a good platform for me to put the ball over.
“You practise for those situations week in, week out, and today it went over. It was hero or villain today, and thankfully I was the hero.
“They are the kind of kicks you visualise, but as a whole we are not pleased with the performance.”
South Africa, beaten by Italy on Saturday, are next up for Wales and skipper Sam Warburton said: “South Africa are going to come to us and throw everything at it.
“I imagine they will throw the kitchen sink at us and I am sure we will definitely see a reaction from them.
“But if we can finish this campaign with three wins from four, then I guess we’ve had a successful campaign.”
Howley conceded that Wales were fortunate, adding: “I thought Japan were the better team today. They deserved to win.
“Throughout the game we fuelled Japan’s enthusiasm and energy. We couldn’t get out of our own half in the second half.
“We fuelled their counter-attack. As I said to the players, while we come away with the win, it certainly felt like a loss. Japan will deserve the accolades they will get, but we got past the winning post.
“We lost the aerial battle. Japan’s kicking game put us under pressure and we lost territory. They took their tries particularly well.
“In fairness to Japan, they had the skill, energy and enthusiasm and they were unfortunate not to win the game.”
Howley paid tribute to Davies, who impressed on his Test debut against Australia a fortnight ago and was winning only a second cap.
“I am delighted for Sam,” he said. “He came on against Australia and made a positive impact, and he showed great composure.
“The way he struck the ball for the drop-goal was fantastic. It was a great drop-goal.”
Reflecting on his team’s performance, Japan head coach Jamie Joseph said: “I think we surprised Wales and their fans how we played the game.
“A fair result would have been a draw, and the players are disappointed to have come up short.”
