Wales beat Japan 28-21 with four-try bonus point in Nations Championship

Wales beat Japan 28-21 in a home Nations Championship match on Saturday, 7 November 2026. Wales scored four tries and earned a bonus point. It was Wales' first Test since July. Steve Tandy is Wales' head coach. Eddie Jones coaches Japan.

The match

According to BBC Sport, the game was played at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, and Wales led 21-14 at half-time. Archie Griffin, Josh Adams (two) and Louis Rees-Zammit scored Wales' tries, BBC Sport reported. Sam Costelow kicked three conversions and Edwards kicked one. For Japan, Ben Gunter, Warner Dearns and replacement Kenta Fukuda scored tries. Naoto Saito kicked two conversions and Komura one. BBC Sport says Japan earned a losing bonus point.

Rees-Zammit was named player of the match, according to BBC Sport. His try was his first in eight internationals. Griffin's try was his first in a Test, and he had not trained on the Friday before the game.

BBC Sport reported that Wales lost six of their own line-outs and made five handling errors in the first 15 minutes. The Guardian reported that Japan had 62% of possession. BBC Sport put attendance at 52,425.

Tandy named a record nine England-based club players in his starting XV, according to BBC Sport. Japan were without fly-half Ryunosuke Ito because of university commitments. Riku Kitahara, described by BBC Sport as Japan's third-choice fly-half, made his debut.

What comes next

Wales play New Zealand next weekend and then Australia. Japan's next match is against England, on 14 November according to The Guardian. BBC Sport reports that a three-day finals weekend will be held at Twickenham at the end of November. If the standings do not change, Wales and Japan would meet again there to decide fifth place.

What is disputed

BBC Sport's highlights summary calls this Wales' opening Nations Championship game. BBC Sport's match report, however, says Wales started the tournament in July with a home win over Fiji and defeats in Argentina and South Africa. The Guardian calls the result a third win in five games without saying which games are counted. BBC Sport calls it a fourth win in 13 internationals under Tandy. The two figures appear to cover different spans of matches.

What each side says

The Guardian quoted Tandy as saying: "It’s a bonus-point win. It’s good to start. I can’t run away from the performance." He added: "We weren’t ruthless enough," and linked this partly to a lack of matches: "Getting a hit out for the first time since the summer, it does get clunky." He also said: "Defensively, we improved."

Jones was quoted by The Guardian as saying: "That could have been a historic win for us." He added: "We weren’t quite good enough. It was a missed opportunity," and said: "I’m proud of my team."

The Guardian does not say where these comments were made. The BBC Sport match report reviewed by Vocemundi does not describe the closing minutes in full.

Analysis

The result gives Wales a bonus-point win, but the reports reviewed by Vocemundi describe a performance with clear flaws, including lost line-outs and early handling errors. Tandy himself linked some of this to a lack of match practice. That explanation could be tested against New Zealand and Australia in the coming weeks. For Japan, a losing bonus point with a debutant fly-half may be read as encouraging, as Jones's comments suggest. A possible rematch for fifth place at Twickenham would depend on other results. The different win records cited by The Guardian and BBC Sport cover different spans of matches, so they are not necessarily in conflict.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.