Veteran Gareth Llewellyn said Wales’ superb four-try effort surprised everyone.
“To be fair, the All Blacks match took everyone by surprise,” he said. “We just took that effort and went into the England match saying ‘right, that’s it – we can win this’.
“There was a feeling afterwards that we blew it – we had a chance and we blew it.”
Star winger Shane Williams added: “We didn’t think we’d get that close to New Zealand – we just went out their to express ourselves, knowing we had nothing to lose.”
Williams added that Wales’ new-found running rugby style was also a surprise.
“That came as a bit of a shock,” said the man who inspired it with his electric breaks. “I think that sort of game has been coming for a long time, because we have got the players to do it.
“I’ve actually been really frustrated for a while because we haven’t been playing like that.”
Llewellyn said the team was happy with the progress they made Down Under.
“We didn’t think we’d played that badly in the pool matches, but there was a bit of rustiness because we hadn’t played together for so long.”
He said the past two matches had made Welsh fans sit up and take notice, and that brought new pressures for the squad.
“It comes with the territory. We’ve got the respect now, but the pressure will come and people will expect results.
“We will be under pressure to produce the wins – performances won’t be as important as victories.”
