Colin Charvis praised Wales after they gave New Zealand an almighty scare in Sydney on Sunday.
The Wales skipper scored one of Wales' four tries against the Pool D favourites, who trailed midway through the second half.
"We wanted to do as well as we could and we're very proud that we put in a very good performance and showed our character," Charvis said.
"But we still lost and it was one of those games that we could have played a little bit better, and had a better scoreline in the end."
"We knew that after our first three games we had to step up to perform against the New Zealanders and that's what we aimed for and that's we did.
"We'll be proud of our performance but congratulations to the New Zealanders - they showed their class, especially towards the end the way they were finishing off their tries.
The All Blacks had that extra cutting edge and late tries from Carlos Spencer, Doug Howlett and Aaron Mauger ensure they finished top of the group with a 53-37 win.
New Zealand now face South Africa in the quarter-finals next week in Melbourne, while Wales head to Brisbane and a showdown with the old enemy England.
"We've got another game to build for now, so next week in Brisbane we'll look forward to the English," Charvis added.
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That is the best Wales performance I have seen in years
England heroes profiled