Wales coach Warren Gatland praised his players' character after they held off England to secure a 19-9 victory in Cardiff.
Johnson insists England will get better
Wales coach Warren Gatland praised his players' character after they held off England to secure a 19-9 victory in Cardiff.
The visitors dominated possession and territory but Wales defended heroically and secured victory in the World Cup warm-up match thanks to James Hooks' 13 second-half points.
Gatland said: "In terms of commitment I cannot fault the players - they were absolutely tremendous.
"I thought as the game went on we looked very strong. Today was not about pretty rugby, it was about showing character."
Gatland said Wales should not be underestimated at the World Cup, adding: "That's the message I want to get out to the public."
Sam Warburton admitted Wales had to hang on "for our lives" in the first 40 minutes.
Massive
Man-of-the-match Warburton said: "England were fantastic in the first half. We hung on for our lives. We got the result, that's the main thing."
Warburton said it was a "massive" result in terms of the World Cup campaign. "A win was vital," he said. "We have to get in the winning habit."
There were no excuses from England manager Martin Johnson after he had seen one of his side's worst displays under his stewardship
He told
Sky Sports: "It was a bit of a mess out there. No excuses - we have to sort it out.
"We lost a little bit of cohesion. We had a stranglehold on the game and we let it slip away. It's really disappointing. It's one of the strangest games I have seen. We will sort it out and get better."
England captain Mike Tindall added he was disappointed with the result but would "take it on the chin".
"We ended up getting into an arm wrestle which is not what we wanted today," he said.
"We had so much ball, so much possession and we didn't come away with anything. We have to go back and review things properly. We have to take it on the chin.
"We came here to work on things but did not get as many points as we should have."
