FLY-HALF Gareth Anscombe says that defence comes naturally to Wales – but more of a creative streak is needed to go to the next level, writes Chris Kirwan.

Warren Gatland's side have won seven Tests on the bounce and ended their nightmare run against Australia with a precious 9-6 success.

It was a defensive display to make coach Shaun Edwards purr but Cardiff Blues playmaker Anscombe wants to threaten more with ball in hand.

He said: "It's about us being clinical and comfortable in our shape. When you combine boys from regions that play slightly different styles, it's about trying to gel pretty quickly and getting on the same page.

"We are not quite there yet but we are slowly building. I think that defence probably comes a bit more naturally to this team; we've certainly built a pretty proud history of our defence in the last 10 years under Shaun.

"For us to take that next step our attack has to keep improving and keep adjusting, but we are getting there."

Chances were at a premium against the Wallabies and in the build-up to next year's World Cup Anscombe wants to find an edge against well-organised rivals.

"We are still a little bit disappointed that we didn't get over the whitewash," said the fly-half. "We created a few opportunities and for us to go up to the next step we have to be a bit more clinical.

"We back our defence but for us to go to that next level we need to create a bit more, so that's for us to keep working on.

"They had a lot of threats on the ball, particularly David Pocock, that caused a lot of problems for us and slowed our ball up.

"Both teams did a pretty good job at the breakdown and there were two pretty organised defences when the ball was slow. We weren't too far off with a few kicks behind and we talked about trying to turn them around early on.

"When the ball is slow the advantage goes to the defensive teams, it's tough to break through and no team gave an inch."