Dan Lydiate: Flanker says Wales must 'step up' after Japan performance

Wales flanker Dan Lydiate says they need to "step up" if they are to beat South Africa after they struggled to a last-minute win against Japan.

Wales were tied 30-30 with Japan until Sam Davies' 80th-minute drop-goal sealed victory for the hosts.

Italy recorded their first-ever victory against South Africa on Saturday in a tense meeting in Florence.

"We want to finish on a high and there will certainly be a backlash coming," Lydiate told BBC Radio Wales.

"We need to step up. We won the last two games which is always good but at the end of the day we need to build on performances.

"Maybe we took a step back from the win against Argentina."

Lydiate, who won his 59th cap in the win against Japan, scored his first Wales try on Saturday but has urged his side to build on their performance when they face the Springboks.

"In recent years we've come up short [against southern hemisphere teams]. In 2014 we got a win over South Africa and if we can get the result next week, three out of four [autumn international wins] is not all that bad," Lydiate said.

"If we get the result next week, all you will remember is the result and not the spluttering in performance [against Japan]. We want to build each week and today wasn't good enough but we'll put that to bed and train hard for next week."

The Ospreys flanker says they can not let themselves be punished when they face out of form South Africa in Cardiff next week.

"It feels like a bit of a loss but all credit to the Japan team. It shows how elusive they can be and they certainly punished us when they had the ball in hand," he continued.

"We were too loose at times and we got punished for it. If we do that next week it's not going to be a pretty scoreline. We'll look at the video and hopefully tighten up for next week."