For the second week in a Wales defeat. This encounter finished by 26 points, and if you missed it, it will look like yet another in their long list defeats to New Zealand, which now stretches back 34 matches to 1953.
However, it's also plausible, for the players in charge competing, for the huge crowd at the stadium, and the massive TV audience tuning in remotely, it may yet come to represent a greater meaning than that. They didn't quite make, a shift, but they took a quick peek around one and got a glimpse of what the future may appear with Steve Tandy leading the side.
Three times, New Zealand stretched ahead with a touchdown, the first of them three minutes in, and repeatedly Wales fought back to close the gap into contention with a try one of their own immediately after.
Each try was completed by the wing from Scarlets the Welsh flyer, making him the first Welshman to achieve a triple against New Zealand. Yet the credit just as much to his colleagues, especially scrum-half Williams, who made one with a skillful low kick, Rees-Zammit, who set up another with an excellent catch, and Hawkins, who made the third using a accurate long pass.
At the start of the second half, they were separated by three points, separated by a sole penalty by the All Blacks' kicker dividing the sides. Two of New Zealand’s scores originated from set pieces, one a simple touchdown by the winger, and a more routine score from the forward from a forward push. The third came from a brilliant finish by Ruben Love, darting through a defensive hole aided by a dummy and a step, and raced 30 metres for the try.
Game Overview
- Wales Murray; Rees-Zammit, Llewellyn, Hawkins, Rogers (Tompkins 55); Edwards (Evans 68), Williams (Hardy 68); Carré (G Thomas 52), Lake (Coghlan 76), Assiratti (Griffin 52), Jenkins, Beard (F Thomas 70), Mann, Deaves (Morse 68), Plumtree
- Disciplinary issues Thomas 58, Plumtree 68
- Touchdowns Rogers 3, Rees-Zammit
- Extras three successful kicks
- All Blacks Love (Reece 55); Jordan, Ioane, Lienert-Brown (Fainga’anuku 68), Clarke; McKenzie, Ratima (Christie 55); Williams (Bower 55), Taukei’aho (Bell 65), Tosi (Newell 55), Barrett, Holland (Lord 64), Parker, Kirifi (Lio-Willie 68), Sititi
- Touchdowns multiple scorers across the team
- Extras McKenzie 7
- Penalty kick McKenzie
Official Hollie Davidson from England
Spectators over 68,000
Around this time that the visitors entered a higher gear. They scored three tries in 10 minutes. Two were ruled out, due to a knock-on, another after replays indicated Rogers barely managed to prevent the score. But the third, originally disallowed because the referee believed there was a knock-on from a kick across, was awarded to Rieko Ioane following television review.
After that, the game began to deteriorate. To start, the prop received a to the sin-bin, and as he returned, Plumtree was also binned.
The All Blacks added additional tries late in the game, including two from the winger. However, Wales managed to pull another back on their own, following excellent play from Murray and Rees-Zammit. The stadium came alive at that moment, although they were behind, they felt pride in having something to shout about, and a sight of initial signs of progress against one of the top teams globally.
