For the second week in a Welsh loss. This encounter ended by 26 points, if you weren't tuning in, it may appear as just another on their lengthy record of losses against the All Blacks, which now stretches back 34 encounters over seven decades.
Yet there's a chance, for the players in charge competing, for the spectators in attendance, and the hundreds of thousands following live, it could still turn out to represent a deeper importance than just a loss. While not a complete turnaround, a shift, they managed a quick peek into the future and saw a vision of potential developments could resemble with Tandy at the helm as coach.
Repeatedly, the All Blacks extended their lead by scoring a try, the first of them just three minutes into the game, and each time the Welsh fought back to close the gap back into the match by touching down their own points immediately after.
All three were scored by the wing from Scarlets Tom Rogers, establishing him as the inaugural Welsh player to score a hat-trick against New Zealand. But they belonged also to his colleagues, notably scrum-half Williams, assisting a try using a clever grubber kick, Rees-Zammit, who created another through a brilliant grab, and Joe Hawkins, who set up the last with a precise cross-field pass.
At the start of the second half, the score stood at 24-21, with just a single kick by the All Blacks' kicker dividing the sides. Two tries from New Zealand scores came from lineouts, the first a straightforward touchdown by Clarke, the other an even simpler by the forward following a forward push. The third came from a brilliant finish by Ruben Love, darting through a gap in the defence with the help of deception and agility, and ran a long distance to touch down.
Key Details
- Home Team 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
- Sin-bins penalties for infringements
- Touchdowns multiple tries from the wings
- Conversions Evans 3
- 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 a variety of try-scorers
- Conversions seven successful kicks
- Three points a penalty goal
Official the referee was Hollie Davidson
Spectators a massive crowd
It was about now that the All Blacks slipped into top form. They notched three tries within ten minutes. Two didn't count, one for a knock-on, another after review showed Rogers just succeeded to hold the ball up. Yet the next one, initially not given since the ref believed there was a knock-on from a crossfield kick, was given to Rieko Ioane following television review.
From then on, things started to fall apart. First, Gareth Thomas was sent a yellow card, then just as he was coming back on, Taine Plumtree also left.
New Zealand scored additional tries during the last period, with two by Reece. But Wales did manage to score again independently, thanks to brilliant efforts by the fullback and Rees-Zammit. The crowd erupted at that point, although they were behind, they took pride to have something to cheer for, and a sight of initial signs of progress facing one of the world’s best teams.
