George North expressed that conceding cheap points was Wales’ downfall in their Autumn Nations defeat to New Zealand.
The All Blacks proved too strong for Wayne Pivac’s side, with a clinical performance at the Principality Stadium earning them a 55-23 victory.
Codie Taylor, Aaron Smith and Jordie Barrett all scored braces, while Ardie Savea and Samisoni Taukei’aho also breached the Wales defence.
The visitors stretched their winning streak over Wales to 33 games, with the wait since the previous win in December 1953 being further prolonged.
While acknowledging Wales’ battling performance, North explained that his side had to be perfect to end the All Blacks’ winning streak.
“The scoreline doesn’t tell the full story, because we felt like we were going toe-to-toe,” the centre stated.
“We fronted up on a number of occasions, but let some easy tries in, which you can’t do against New Zealand. They’re a great outfit. In the first-half, we made a slow start, but we showed a good fight to come back into it.
“That’s when you know you have to be on the money every time, because when you’re playing a team like New Zealand, every time they get an opportunity, they take it. We’ve got to be on the money from minute-one and can’t let them get any momentum.”
After the All Blacks raced to a 17-0 lead inside 20 minutes, Wales fought back through a dream debut try from winger Rio Dyer.
Captain Justin Tipuric also crossed for Wales in the second-half, but it wasn’t enough to trouble a classy All Blacks performance.
Wales will now head into the fixture against Argentina, with plenty of lessons learned, North stated.
“We missed a few opportunities, we have to be more clinical,” he expressed. “We’ve got to be better with our exits, get out of our 22 and take the pressure off us. I’m sure there’ll be a few more learnings to look at.
“The Autumn Series is a big challenge. It’s four big tests back-to-back and we’re quickly into it now. New Zealand today, then Argentina, Georgia and Australia. They’re going to come thick and fast, but we’ve got three games to put it right now.”