Head coach Sean Lynn says he is still seeing the positives despite Wales' narrow WXV defeat to USA.
Wales had gone into the game full of confidence after their eight-try mauling of South Africa, but failed to produce a repeat performance in front of the Cardiff Arms Park faithful.
The first half was encouraging enough, with Wales clawing back a 14-point deficit, but hopes of a second-half resurgence were short-lived amid a string of individual errors that allowed The Eagles to emerge 26-24 winners.
But as Wales head into their week off ahead of next month's double-header against Japan, Lynn said he has seen enough progress.
"I saw some grit, I saw some effort there," he told BBC Sport.
"Before, when we were 21-7 down, I would have seen heads drop, but we're in a good place and came back. Now it's about us learning how to see games off and going back to the simple things we're doing well."