Awful All Blacks lose to Wales for first time in 73 years

Wales edged New Zealand 35-28 in the Nations Championship in Cardiff on Saturday to claim their first victory over the All Blacks since 1953.

Scrumhalf Tomos Williams scored one of five Welsh tries in a superb individual performance as the home side ended a 34-match losing run against the three-time Rugby World Cup winners.

Heroic defence

Wales’s heroic defence held out the visitors in the final 25 minutes after the All Blacks had made it a seven-point game thanks to Peter Lakai’s try.

The victory is even more remarkable with Welsh rugby in dire straights after a poor run of results since the 2023 World Cup and a long line of off-field issues overshadowing the sport in the country.

Coach Steve Tandy made five changes from last weekend’s tight win over Japan including starting Adam Beard at lock alongside Dafydd Jenkins to improve success at lineout.

New Zealand coach Davie Rennie handed fullback Beauden Barrett the captaincy for the first time on his 149th Test appearance in eight alterations from last Saturday’s win over Scotland.

After just seven minutes, the hosts raced to a surprise 14-0 lead thanks to Williams and hooker Dewi Lake with the scrumhalf providing the assist for the front-rower.

By the half-hour mark, Wales had a 21-7 lead with prop Archie Griffin diving over as New Zealand scrumhalf Cortez Ratima kept the visitors in the game.

Tense final few minutes

The All Blacks underlined their quality by the break as No 8 Wallace Sititi and winger Fehi Fineanganofo scored to bring the sides level at 21 points apiece.

Wales began the second-half as they did the first, and Williams set up another try with a miss-three pass to find Eddie James in the corner before winger Louis Rees-Zammitt dotted down with half an hour to play.

Flanker Lakai’s try and Richie Mo’unga’s conversion set up a tense final few minutes in the Welsh capital.

New Zealand pressed on the Wales line, having a couple of tries denied by being held up before the hosts managed to grind out a victory in front a joy-filled home crowd.

Scorers

Wales

Tries: Tomos Williams, Dewi Lake, Archie Griffin, Eddie James, Louise Rees-Zammit
Conversions: Sam Costelow (5)

New Zealand

Tries: Cortez Ratima, Wallace Sititi, Fehi Fineanganofo, Peter Lakai
Conversions: Richie Mo’unga (4)

Teams

Wales

15 Blair Murray, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Eddie James, 12 Max Llewellyn, 11 Gabriel Hamer-Webb, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taine Basham, 7 Jac Morgan, 6 James Botham, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Nicky Smith

Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Ben Carter, 20 Taine Plumtree, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Dan Edwards, 23 Louie Hennessey

New Zealand

15 Beauden Barrett (captain), 14 Fehi Fineanganofo, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Josh Moorby, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Wallace Sititi, 7 Peter Lakai, 6 Anton Segner, 5 Josh Lord, 4 Scott Barrett, 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 George Bower

Replacements: 16 George Bell, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Jamie Hannah, 20 Ethan Blackadder, 21 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 22 Kyle Preston, 23 Rieko Ioane.

Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)