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Shaun Edwards has defended under-fire coach Rob Howley by insisting Wales autumn campaign will be judged on how they fare against South Africa on Saturday. Wales have not claimed three autumn victories since overcoming Japan, Canada and Romania in 2002.Howleys side are in position to do that after bouncing back from their opening defeat to Australia with narrow wins over Argentina and Japan. Sky Sports Black Friday sale Upgrade to Sky Sports now and get 12 months half price! But the nature of Saturdays 33-30 victory over Japan - they won it when Sam Davies landed a drop goal with nine seconds left - has led to questions over where this Wales team is heading with Warren Gatland currently away on British and Irish Lions leave. Jamie Roberts goes over for the second Wales try You know when you are in this position as a national coach, you have to block everything out, defence coach Edwards said. You continue doing your job, what you are trying to do.Rob has only been in one Six Nations [when Gatland was on a similar sabbatical ahead of the 2013 Lions tour to Australia] and he has won it. Akihito Yamada of Japan scores a try for the visitors He has a 100 per cent winning record, he is an excellent coach with his attention to detail.Wales have only won two and drawn one of their previous 31 matches against South Africa who arrive at their lowest ebb in years, losing six of their last seven matches, the latest of which was their first ever defeat to Italy.But Wales triumphed when they last met in Cardiff two years ago, with Leigh Halfpenny kicking four penalties in a hard-fought 12-6 victory. South Africa players trudge off after their demoralising defeat to Italy The success or relative failure [of the autumn] will depend on whether we win on Saturday, Edwards said.Its been said in the past weve played Australia many times and lost by one point. Weve played fantastic, but weve lost. Its all about winning and weve won two tight games.Have we played as well as wanted to on Saturday? No, we didnt. But were going into a cup final this week against a team ranked higher than us and theyve got what we want, which is that fourth ranked position.Upgrade to Sky Sports now and get 12 months half price. Hurry, offer ends December 4! Also See: Italy stun Springboks Wales deny brave Japan Jones: Wales complacent Howley wary of Boks backlash SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The defense held an opponents top back under 100 yards rushing for the first time since the opener, Colin Kaepernick and the offense delivered a few big plays and the San Francisco 49ers were competitive until the end.Despite clear signs of progress Sunday, that all added up to an eighth straight loss for the Niners when they lost 23-20 to the Arizona Cardinals on a last-second field goal.I dont think anybody is patting themselves on the back for being close with Arizona, coach Chip Kelly said Monday. Thats not what this deal is all about. Its about winning. At the end of the day we didnt make enough plays. We probably made one less play than they did and they ended up winning the game on the last play of the game. Thats what its all about.But after losing by an average of more than 17 points the previous seven games with the closest defeat being a seven-point loss to Dallas last month, having a chance to win late was a major step forward for the 49ers (1-8).The biggest difference for San Francisco came on the defensive end where David Johnson was held to 55 yards on 19 carries and Arizona finished with just 80 yards for the game on the ground.The Niners had allowed a 100-yard rusher for seven straight games -- the longest streak in NFL history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau -- and was on pace to give up the most yards rushing in a season in 36 years.Johnson had run for 157 yards and two touchdowns in a 33-21 win for the Cardinals last month in Santa Clara but struggled to get going at all against that defense in the rematch.First and foremost, I think we tackled better, Kelly said. That was the least amount of missed tackles that we had on the season in that game.The offense has also shown signs of improvement the more Kaepernick plays. After failing to complete even half his passes in his first two staarts in place of Blaine Gabbert, Kaepernick has been much more effective since the bye.ddddddddddddHe threw for 398 yards and two TDs on Nov. 6 against New Orleans and then went 17 for 30 for 210 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions against the Cardinals. He also ran for 55 yards, including the game-tying touchdown with 1:55 to play.I think our guys have an understanding and a feeling of how were moving forward offensively and starting to kind of understand how things work off of things, Kelly said. Theyre being able to answer some of the questions that are being presented to them. They kind of get a feel for where we are. So, were still a ways away, 20 points a game isnt enough in this league. We still need to score more than that and we need to capitalize.The Niners failed to take full advantage of the four turnovers the defense generated. Twice they started drives in Cardinals territory following turnovers only to punt.The most costly came late in the third quarter when San Francisco got to the Arizona 28 following an interception by Eric Reid. But a dropped pass by Chris Harper and two holding penalties took the Niners out of field position and they punted.The task doesnt get any easier for the Niners this week with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots set to visit fresh off a home loss to Seattle. San Francisco needs a win to avoid tying the longest losing streak in franchise history: a nine-gamer in 1978 that led to the hiring of Bill Walsh as coach the following season.You get a chance to play against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, Kelly said. If that doesnt get your blood boiling, then youre in the wrong sport.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '