Wales head coach Steve Tandy said he expected a better performance against Japan, while captain Dewi Lake admitted there were "massive parts" of the 28-21 victory that let the team down.
Wales hold on for bonus-point win
Despite leading for much of the match in Cardiff, Wales were made to work hard by Eddie Jones' side, holding on to a one-score lead at the end after failing to capitalise on earlier chances. The result gave Wales a winning start to their autumn campaign, with a bonus point, but tougher tests lie ahead.
New Zealand visit the Principality Stadium next week, with Australia to follow the week after.
Tandy: 'We weren't ruthless enough'
"It's a bonus point win," said Tandy afterwards. "It's obviously good to start the campaign with a result."
"I can't run away from the performance when I talk about it. There are elements of the performance we definitely need to improve."
"I thought we'd be better than that in some elements. There was really good stuff from us, in terms of the linebreaks and how we opened Japan up."
"But we weren't ruthless enough and we didn't finish those off, making them pay when it counted. I'm really proud of the boys and the win."
"It's great for us to get a game. When we get back, it's brilliant how quickly the boys get back together. Getting a hit out for the first time since the summer, it does get clunky."
"It helps to review after a bonus point win. We'll park that and enjoy it as we haven't done that a lot. But the beauty of this group is the hunger to get better quicker."
"I love working with them. We'll definitely have to do that for the next couple of games."
Lake: 'We let ourselves down'
Asked if it was frustrating that his side continually let Japan back into the contest after scoring, Tandy said: "I think so."
"There were moments where we'd go seven points up and there'd be a sloppy knock-on or we'd look for the pass from a linebreak rather than take the tackle. There was some excitement in what we tried to do."
"Japan were effective close to the line. We managed the game really well outside of that."
"Defensively, we improved our robustness outside the 22. There's bit in the game where there's a lot to like."
"But in Test matches, you need to be ruthless and reward yourself when you're on top."
Wales captain Lake was equally honest in his assessment, saying they would have to improve massively ahead of the All Blacks' visit next Saturday.
"We're happy with the win and proud of the boys for winning the game," he said. "It's something we've not done probably often enough."
"There were massive parts of that game where we let ourselves down on. For us, getting into camp, we said we were going to do things that we probably didn't do today."
"That's disappointing for us. But this is a group that wants to grow and will challenge each other. We'll do that."
"But if you look at the two Test matches we did today, we did things today that weren't good enough to compete."
"We'll have to get a lot right next week and fix some stuff. But a win is massive for this group, for the confidence and trust we'll get in each other."
