His young side crashed to a last-gasp 24-17 defeat to Australia in the opening encounter of the World Rugby U20 Championship.
They went into the break trailing by just three points thanks to an early Cameron Lewis try and dominated the second-half with a strong wind at their backs.
Dane Blacker touched down to put them into the lead but Australia instantly hit-back and when Arwel Robson dropped a goal to level they struck again to deny Wales.
It was a bitter pill to swallow but Strange insists they can take plenty of confidence from their performance ahead of Sunday’s showdown.
The Wales U20s head coach said: “The effort overall for the 80 minutes was excellent. With the pressure we built on them, particularly in the second half, I couldn’t see us losing the game with 10-15 minutes to go but to be fair to Australia they were very clinical with the few opportunities they had and they scored some good tries.
“We can take a lot of pride from that performance, Australia are a good side and we more than held our own, created them lots of problems with our ability with the ball and defended for long periods very well.
“England was always going to be a big game. They had a good win to start so they will be confident but our players will recover well and we’ll be ready for Sunday.
“They were impressive against Samoa and we have to go into the game with belief following Wednesday’s performance and the fact we have beaten them in two of the last three encounters. We just have to be a little more accurate in what we are doing in all areas of our game.”
England top Pool A thanks to their demolition of Samoa but Wales remain in the hunt for a semi-final place thanks to their losing bonus-point.
They have to win to keep those hopes alive and Strange knows his side must turn more pressure into points if they are to prevail.
Strange added: “I thought we had snuck a draw but it was a crucial kick-off that we lost and it resulted in a soft try. You also have to give Australia credit though as it was well finished.
“To take two points (with a draw) would have been good, but one point could be important in the competition.
“The difference was the conversion rate, when Australia got in our 22 they scored and when we got in theirs, on a number of occasions, we didn’t quite capitalise. That’s something we need to work on going into Sunday’s game against England.
“With the wind at our backs in the second half and with the way we defended in the first half for 30 minutes we were more than happy with the turnaround at half-time.
“The message to the players at half-time was we just have to control the ball a bit more and build pressure. When we did that for four or five phases we knew our shape would trouble them so that’s something to learn from.
“It was a very physical game, the contact area was keenly contested and both teams really went at it. That’s exactly what we want from our players to be exposed to this level of rugby against quality opposition.”
