Wales ‘still need to build’ after topping rankings

Ken Owens says Wales need to “keep building and improving” after a red-letter day saw them beat England and become world number one.

Wales’ 13-6 World Cup warm-up success in Cardiff meant they ended New Zealand’s unbroken 10-year reign as rugby union’s ranking leaders.

They also achieved it less than five weeks before the World Cup starts in Japan, with Wales having won 15 of their last 16 tests.

Owens, though, joined Wales head coach Warren Gatland in keeping his feet firmly on the ground following such a landmark statistical feat.

“I would prefer to be there (number one) at the start of November (when the World Cup ends), but it is now just a table and something to talk about,” Wales hooker Owens said.

“We were a lot better this week,” he added, in reference to Wales’ 33-19 defeat to England at Twickenham last Sunday.

“We spoke about the need to start a lot better. The first 20 minutes last week cost us the game.

“We spoke about our line speed defensively and our accuracy in attack, and I think we delivered that.

“We dug in and got the done. We delivered, which huge tick in the box for us.

“We have got to be on the money now. We’ve had probably our poor performance out of the system, that slow start people talk about, and we have got to keep building and improving. We can’t let that standard drop.”

Wales have two more preparation fixtures – home and away against Ireland – and a warm-weather training camp in Turkey before they leave for Japan next month.

And they have a solid foundation to build on after extending an unbeaten home record to 11 games which stretches back to November 2017. job is a

Wales hooker Ken Owens.