Wales end 73-year All Blacks wait with five tries and a final stand

At the final whistle, players and supporters were in tears. Steve Tandy’s team had ended 34 consecutive defeats in a fixture that Sir Gareth Edwards, Alun Wyn Jones, Shane Williams, JPR Williams, Barry John and Phil Bennett never won while representing Wales. The previous Welsh victories came in 1905, 1935 and 1953. This generation now has its own.⁠1

The 35–28 result and the account here rest on BBC Sport’s detailed match report, which records every scorer and conversion. Two other listings remain inconsistent: an Associated Press headline gives 35–21, while Rugby Australia’s match-centre page, labelled as a fixture, displays 39–34. Neither discrepancy has been reconciled with a completed Welsh Rugby Union or All Blacks match-centre record. They are unresolved listings, not corroboration of an alternative final score.⁠1⁠52⁠54

What distinguishes this win is not simply that Wales built a commanding lead. They built one, lost it entirely, then found the nerve and skill to build another. At halftime, New Zealand had recovered from 21–7 down to 21–21. Wales’ extraordinary opening had bought them no advantage at the interval. The second half demanded more than the defence of a good start.⁠1

New Zealand coach Dave Rennie had identified Tomos Williams as a danger before kickoff. The Wales scrum-half immediately justified the concern. After prop Nicky Smith won possession, Williams sent a long pass to Louis Rees-Zammit, followed the wing’s chip ahead and collected to score. His flat pass then put captain Dewi Lake over from a worked forward move. Inside six minutes, Wales led 14–0—their first 14-point advantage against New Zealand.⁠1

Williams’ importance went beyond the speed of his service. His passing repeatedly brought Welsh runners into space before New Zealand could close it. When the second half began level, he again supplied the long pass that sent centre Eddie James through. After Jac Morgan won a turnover penalty and Wales chose to pursue another try, Williams released Rees-Zammit for the fifth. Two tries inside the opening six minutes had been followed by two inside eight minutes of the restart.⁠1

Sam Costelow converted all five Welsh tries. Richie Mo’unga converted all four for New Zealand. There were no missed conversions to explain away the difference: Wales’ highest try total in this rivalry left the teams separated by one converted try.⁠1

Between those Welsh bursts, New Zealand had shown how readily they could recover. Scrum-half Cortez Ratima answered the opening scores from an attacking line-out. Wales then benefited from a consequential New Zealand choice: awarded a penalty inside the Welsh 22-metre area, the visitors opted for a scrum, only to concede a penalty themselves. Wales regained momentum, and Archie Griffin eventually scored after Max Llewellyn had been stopped beneath the posts.⁠1

The Welsh line-out initially provided the platform that had been missing in the previous weekend’s 28–21 win over Japan, when six throws went astray. But that improvement did not last uninterrupted. Two Welsh overthrows and two New Zealand penalties won at the tackle helped sustain the visitors’ recovery. Wallace Sititi scored after New Zealand chose an attacking line-out; Fehi Fineanganofo followed, and Mo’unga’s conversion brought the sides level at halftime.⁠1

That was the first real test of the Welsh performance. A fast start can unsettle a favourite without changing the result. Wales had to begin again against opponents who had already demonstrated that a two-try deficit was recoverable. Their answer was to attack with the same ambition, rather than retreat into protecting something they no longer possessed.

After James and Rees-Zammit restored the two-try cushion at 35–21, Peter Lakai burrowed over to cut the margin to seven. His next break nearly created the score that could have levelled the match again. Replacement prop Gareth Thomas held Sititi up over the Welsh line. James Botham then did the same to hooker Asafo Aumua.⁠1

Those interventions explain the closing stages better than the loose language of simply “stopping” an attack. New Zealand had crossed the line. What they could not complete was the grounding required for a try. Wales’ defenders kept getting between the ball and the turf, preserving a margin that one more converted score would have erased.⁠1

The bench mattered as much as the opening scorers. Taine Plumtree won two important turnovers. With 16 minutes remaining, Tandy took off Williams and Costelow, handing responsibility to Ospreys half-backs Reuben Morgan-Williams and Dan Edwards. A third collective held-up intervention followed. Botham, Morgan and lock Dafydd Jenkins helped sustain the resistance through the final quarter. Wales did not need to score again; they needed to keep denying New Zealand the final touch.⁠1

The result also gave weight to selection decisions that had looked anything but routine. Wales made four starting changes after beating Japan. Taine Basham replaced injured number eight Aaron Wainwright for his first Test start in four years. Gabriel Hamer-Webb took the wing place of Josh Adams, despite Adams scoring twice the previous weekend. Adam Beard replaced Ben Carter at lock, while Botham came in for Alex Mann.⁠1

New Zealand changed eight starters from the side that beat Scotland 43–21. Beauden Barrett captained them in a Test for the first time, in his 149th international. Those changes are part of the context, not an explanation that diminishes what happened: the visitors recovered to level scores, then came within a converted try of doing so again. Wales had to beat the comeback as well as the team.⁠1

The crowd of 55,152 was the lowest across 14 Wales–New Zealand meetings at the Principality Stadium. Some bookmakers had offered 20–1 on a Welsh victory before kickoff. A comparatively small crowd for this fixture therefore witnessed what much larger generations of crowds had waited to see.⁠1

The championship consequence was less decisive than the historical one. New Zealand still moved above South Africa to lead the Nations Championship’s southern section after France beat the Springboks on Friday night. One weekend of regular matches remained. This defeat did not by itself end New Zealand’s championship prospects, and the Welsh victory did not establish a title or qualification outcome.⁠1

For Wales, the achievement needs no larger promise attached to it. They scored five tries against New Zealand, absorbed the loss of a commanding lead and rebuilt it. Then, with the match reduced to seven points and the width of a defender’s arm beneath the ball, they held on. The wait ended not because New Zealand stopped threatening, but because Wales kept finding an answer.