Defence coach Peter Murchie has called for a vast improvement in his area of the game when Wales resume their Nations Championship campaign this Saturday against Japan (16:40 GMT).
Murchie is preparing for his second campaign in charge of defence after joining Steve Tandy’s backroom staff from Japan side Kobelco Kobe Steelers.
In July, Wales defeated Fiji in Cardiff but lost to Argentina and South Africa, with the side missing more than 100 tackles and conceding 15 tries during the three games.
Murchie says he is expecting a lot more from the Welsh squad during the next month.
“From my side in the summer, we can be much better,” said Murchie.
“I wasn’t happy with the defence overall, there’s much more in us and improvements to be made.
“We want to be extremely tough to break down and play against.
“The players are ambitious, they want to perform and defensively we want to be more consistent in our performances this November.”
Murchie linked up with Wales after the conclusion of the Japanese Rugby League One season in June.
So having come into the backroom staff late for his first campaign, Murchie is hoping to make more of an impression.
“There is a much bigger lead-in than last time,” said Murchie.
“We’ve got more of a complete coaching group and been able to debrief the summer properly and prepare.
“We have been out in the regions and it’s been a good preparation to getting the boys into camp.
“We have had more time to build relationships and prepare this time around.”
Murchie stated Wales must improve their win ratio having experienced only three victories in the 12-Test Tandy era so far.
Since November 2025, Wales have beaten Japan, Italy and Fiji and have lost the nine other internationals.
“We’re here to win Test matches, we’re not here to take part and we’ve spoken about that as a group,” said Murchie.
“I’m not going to give you a number of wins.
“We’re also looking for consistency in our performance in terms of delivery and performance in every game.”
