First half tries from centre pairing Owen Williams and Ashley Beck had seen Wales surge into a comfortable 10 point lead with Leigh Halfpenny kicking two conversions and a penalty.
The two Welsh scores followed some enterprising back play and although London Wasps wing Will Helu responded for Tonga, fly half Latiume Fosita converting, Wales would have been confident of extending their advantage in the second half.
But after the break, Wales failed to score despite going close on a number of occasions. Debutant Hallam Amos, Luke Charteris and North all saw a number of efforts referred to the TV match official.
Remarkably, Wales had 89 per cent of the second half territory with North frustrated at his side’s ability to add a third try.
Here’s what the Northampton winger had to say at the final whistle.
“We had chances out there, we just weren’t clinical enough in the right areas. We had a lot of turnovers which are basic skills for us and we left a lot of tries out there. It was one of those frustrating days at the office.
“It was great for Owen to get a try, we’ve been working hard on our support play and general running lines and he took it very well.
“Tonga came out hard, hit hard and from one to 15, we felt that today. Defensively, they were very strong.
“I think we’re a bit frustrated. We went out there and tried to overachieve. I think we need to do our basics right, run hard and play our tempo, we just tried too hard. At the end of the day, it’s not what we set out to do but a win is a win.
“Our defence held strong except for the first half and in the second half, we could have conceded an easy try but we stayed strong and worked together.
“I am available next week. We’ve had a little bit of a dip here today but come Monday we’ll work really hard again, get all the boys back in and I think we’ve got a great chance of beating Australia here.”
