Second-half surge sees All Blacks dispatch Wales
MATCH REPORT: A dominant second-half display saw New Zealand overcome a brave but ill-disciplined Wales side 52-26.
The Red Dragons, who trailed 21-24 at the start of the second half, were unable to keep up with the All Blacks’ accuracy, as the visitors raised the tempo and punished every mistake.
Wales had started with real ambition and struck back quickly after Caleb Clarke opened the scoring for the All Blacks. Louis Rees-Zammit sparked a sweeping counter with a successful aerial challenge that ended with Tom Rogers gathering a loose offload to score the first of his three tries. Dan Edwards converted to level matters at 7-7, only for New Zealand to edge ahead again through Damian McKenzie’s boot.
The All Blacks threatened to pull away when Ruben Love sliced through for a sharp solo finish, pushing the score to 7-17, but Wales refused to fold. Rogers added his second after a well-executed grubber inside the 22m area from scrumhalf Tomos Williams, and Edwards converted to keep the hosts in touch.
Tamaiti Williams then muscled his way over before the break to restore the ten-point margin at 14 -24.
The hosts came out firing in the second half, and Rogers completed his hat-trick with a clever finish after another well-contested aerial battle, cutting the gap to three and briefly raising Welsh hopes of an upset.
New Zealand responded in clinical fashion. Weak defending from Wales saw Clarke power over for his second, but a knock-on in the build-up saw the try chalked off. Will Jordan was also denied after he pounced on a loose pass to crash over soon after, only for the TMO to rule that the ball was held up.
Sevu Reece eventually crossed the line for the All Blacks following a cross-kick during a frenetic spell on the Welsh line to push the score to 21-38.
With just over 20 minutes left in the match and facing mounting pressure, Wales’ discipline started to unravel. Gareth Thomas saw yellow after too many infringements, and Taine Plumtree followed him to the bin minutes later for a high tackle.
Playing against thirteen men, New Zealand controlled territory and tempo, with Reece grabbing his second after a ridiculous step to leave Jarrod Evans for dead.
There was still time for Wales to claim a small prize as Rees-Zammit finished brilliantly in the corner for their final score, setting a new mark for the most points they have ever scored against New Zealand at this venue. But New Zealand had the last laugh, with Clarke capping the afternoon with a fourth All Blacks try in the dying moments.
Man of the match: Cohen Jasper deserves praise for his impressive attacking display, and Ezekiel Ngobeni was impressive in his short stint off the bench even though his solo effort was ruled out. But my award would have to go to Cheetahs lock Juan Venter. While he did score a try, his biggest impact on the game was his ability to disrupt the WP’s lineout ball – he made five lineout steals in the match!
The scorers:
For Wales:
Tries: Rogers 3, Rees-Zammit
Cons: Edwards 3
For New Zealand:
Tries: Clarke 2, Love, Williams, Ione, Reece 2
Cons: McKenzie 7
Pen: McKenzie
Yellow cards: Gareth Thomas (Wales, 57 – repeated infringements), Taine Plumtree (Wales, 66 – dangerous tackle)
Teams:
Wales: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Tom Rogers, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Adam Beard, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Rhys Carre.
Replacements: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Nick Tompkins.
New Zealand: 15 Ruben Love, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Wallace Sititi, 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6 Simon Parker, 5 Fabian Holland, 4 Scott Barrett (captain), 3 Pasilio Tosi, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1 Tamaiti Williams.
Replacements: 16 George Bell, 17 Fletcher Newell, 18 George Bower, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Christian Lio-Willie, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 23 Sevu Reece.
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Andrea Piardi (Italy, Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)
