Magnificent Wales shock All Blacks in Cardiff thriller

MATCH REPORT: Wales pulled off the biggest upset of the Nations Championship so far with a 35-28 victory over the All Blacks in their Round Five showdown in Cardiff.

It’s their first victory over New Zealand since 1953.

Steve Tandy’s side outscored the All Blacks by five tries to four in a thrilling encounter.

However, this match will also be remembered for Wales’ heroic defence in the second half, which included a number of brilliant turnovers.

In total, Wales made a whopping 346 tackles in the match.

The All Blacks were also held up over the tryline on several occasions.

Despite the defeat, the All Blacks picked up two losing bonus points, which put them ahead of the Boks in the Southern Hemisphere standings heading into Round Six.

It was a dream start for the home side as Louis Rees-Zammit found himself in space after a great pass before chipping the ball, and it was Tomos Williams who pounced on it in the in-goal to score the first try in the second minute.

The Welsh kept up the pressure after that, and they were in again in the sixth minute when Dewi Lake powered over for a five-pointer.

However, the hosts were kicking themselves a few minutes later when they allowed scrumhalf Cortez Ratima to peel off the side of a maul to run in for an easy try.

Despite that setback, the Welsh played with power and precision, and their big forwards laid the platform for prop Archie Griffin to crash over for his team’s third try in the 24th minute.

The All Blacks also turned to their forwards after that and from a maul the ball went to loose forward Wallace Sititi, who stretched over for a try in the 31st minute.

With time up on the clock for the first half, the All Blacks kept the ball alive, and after several half-breaks and offloads, wing Fehi Fineanganofo was put into space from close range to run over for his side’s third try.

At half-time, it was 21-21.

The home side started the second half like they did the first, with multiple phases resulting in Eddie James going over in the corner after a smart pass by scrumhalf Williams.

They were in again in the 49th minute after a powerful driving maul brought them within inches of the All Blacks’ tryline before the ball went wide to Rees-Zammit to go over for the score.

The All Blacks needed to be the next to score if they wanted to stay in the game, and they did just that with Peter Lakai finding his way over the tryline after sustained pressure.

The visitors kept hammering away at the Welsh after that, but they were thwarted by some valiant defending and some heroic turnovers on the tryline.

It’s proved to be enough for the Welsh as they celebrated the biggest win in their history with some emotional scenes.

Man of the match: Scrumhalf Tomos Williams scored one of five Welsh tries in a superb individual performance. However, the award goes to flanker James Botham, who was a colossus on defence and a brute force in the physical exchanges.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries: Williams, Lake, Griffin, James, Rees-Zammit
Cons: Costelow 5

For New Zealand:
Tries: Ratima, Sititi, Fineanganofo, Lakai
Cons: 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)