Wales defeated the New Zealand All Blacks 35-28 in Cardiff to earn its first win over the team in 73 years.
The Story
Wales produced a major upset by beating the New Zealand All Blacks 35-28 on Saturday in a Nations Championship rugby match at Cardiff, their first victory over the All Blacks in 73 years.
Wales set the early pace with a try by Tomos Williams in the second minute and never trailed, though it had to withstand repeated New Zealand attacks during the final stretch while holding a seven-point advantage for the last 27 minutes.
The Welsh had lost 34 straight matches to the All Blacks since their last win in 1953, and they had conceded 50 points to New Zealand on their last three visits to Cardiff.
Wales’ victory capped a difficult period for the team heading into the match, having finished second-to-last in the northern hemisphere pool of the Nations Championship and barely beaten Japan last weekend.
New Zealand entered as overwhelming favourites, and only 55,000 fans attended the game—20,000 below a sell-out and the lowest crowd for a Wales-New Zealand match since the national stadium opened in 1999.
The win was built on an attack followed by a defensive performance that included 346 tackles, with lock Dafydd Jenkins leading with 36.
The All Blacks carried three separate late pushes over the Wales tryline, but each time Wales held firm: Wallace Sititi was stopped by Gareth Thomas in the 60th minute, Xavier Numia was held up by James Botham in the 65th, and Leicester Fainga'anuku was turned back by Dan Edwards in the 70th.
New Zealand also generated two separate 20-plus-phase drives in the Wales 22, but both were turned over by Taine Plumtree.
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