Wales' Ryan Jones reflects on his side's draw with Fiji at the Millennium Stadium © Getty Images

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Wales captain Ryan Jones reflected on "the worst 20 minutes" of his rugby career after he gave away a late penalty which allowed Fiji to secure a 16-16 draw at the Millennium Stadium.

The Ospreys back-rower committed the indiscretion that allowed fly-half Seremaia Bai to earn the South Sea Islanders their best-ever result against Wales in Cardiff, and revive some painful Welsh memories of their 38-34 win in Nantes that sent the men in red out of the 2007 World Cup.

And Jones, who will lose the leadership role to Matthew Rees for next weekend's tussle with New Zealand, ranked the moment as the lowest in his career. "It wasn't good enough," he said. "In the end we got what we deserved and I have just had the worst 20 minutes of my rugby career standing up in front of the boys and apologising to them for a mistake I made which gave away the penalty for the three points that got them the draw.

"We are bitterly disappointed with that, the fans go away without the result and display they deserved and as a team we go have to go home, regroup and gear up for a massive test next week (against New Zealand)."

Coach Gatland admitted that one of the most disappointing aspects of a woeful display was that the players handed the opportunity to impress tonight, the New Zealander made nine changes to his starting XV, had not built on an excellent display in Saturday's narrow defeat to world champions South Africa.

"I think the disappointing thing was we made a number of changes tonight to see the depth of the squad, and maybe it is not as deep as we perhaps thought," he said. "We felt in the first couple of weeks (of the autumn) we had stepped up and improved and obviously it was not there tonight.

"We were not strong enough at the breakdown, we conceded a number of turnovers and there are a number of areas to work on. I think it will be a good test of character for a few individuals next week. There is no lack of motivation in facing the All Blacks, particularly after last week, but the disappointing thing is we did not kick on today."

Fiji captain Deacon Manu, who plies his trade with Welsh region the Scarlets, was understandably delighted with the effort of his side and suggested Wales may have taken their eye off the ball.

"I am really happy with how the guys stood up today," said the prop. "The last 20 minutes we really had to dig in. We had to make sure we were concentrating as the Welsh side will pounce on any lapses.

"The last 20 minutes were huge and we were happy that we were able to retain the ball, which you can do under the new rules, and keep playing and keep the momentum going. It's a step forward for us to come away from home and get a draw, but looking at who Wales have played in the last couple of weeks, and next week they have a tough game against the All Blacks, maybe they took their eye off this game."