CAPTAIN Sam Warburton remained optimistic despite Wales' 39-21 defeat against New Zealand in the first Test of their three-match series in Auckland.

Warren Gatland's side led 18-15 at the interval after first-half tries from Taulupe Faletau and Rhys Webb, as Wales looked to claim victory in New Zealand for the first time in 63 years.

However, the All Blacks were too strong for their northern-hemisphere opponents in the second half and a brace from Waisake Naholo alongside scores from Kieran Read and Julian Savea saw the world champions seal victory.

Warburton nevertheless took positives from the tourists' display.

"We played some great stuff, and that's what I'm pleased about," he told Sky Sports 1. "We took some chances and it paid off. But we're playing the world champions, we gave it a good crack and it's not good enough for us.

"We're tired of losing (to the southern-hemisphere sides). We're desperate to get win here.

"We wanted to play some rugby. We knew we couldn't come to a place like New Zealand and be conservative and hope to win by edging it with penalties.

"Our counter-attack was good in patches but credit to New Zealand - you make one mistake and they turn it into to seven points, then you make two and they make it into 14 points. They're pretty ruthless.

"But the good thing is we have another two weeks to have another crack again, so we'll comeback next week (in Wellington) and be better."

The Cardiff Blues flanker said the message from their head coach prior to the game was to be bold.

"That was the message for us," he said. "You can't just turn up and play safe to win a Test match like this. You have to be brave, and we did that more so than we would in the northern hemisphere. It paid off for us. We got a few good tries but we have a few defensive adjustments we have to tighten up.

"It was disappointing to give away another seven points at the end, making the scoreboard look ugly.

"We knew coming here that there wouldn't be much set-piece, with the ball is always kept on the park. It wasn't going to be a massive set-piece game. Maybe we need to make use of the line-outs."

All Blacks skipper Read said he expected nothing less from a fired Welsh side.

"(The match was) exactly what we thought it was going to be. The Welsh were fired up," he said.

"We were a little bit off the mark in the first half and the boys who came on had a big impact in this game."