Wales beat New Zealand 35-28 in Cardiff for first win since 1953

Wales beat New Zealand 35-28 in Cardiff on Saturday, securing their first victory over the All Blacks since 1953.

The Nations Championship match at the Principality Stadium ended a 34-match losing sequence against New Zealand that stretched back to 1953. Wales had won the first three games in this fixture in 1905, 1935 and 1953 but had waited more than seven decades for the next.

Wales led 14-0, 21-7 and 35-21 before holding off New Zealand in the final quarter. The home side scored five tries through Tomos Williams, Dewi Lake, Archie Griffin, Eddie James and Louis Rees-Zammit, with five conversions from Costelow. New Zealand scored four tries through Cortez Ratima, Wallace Sititi, Fehi Fineanganofo and Peter Lakai, with four conversions from Mo'unga.

Wales made a stunning start with tries from Tomos Williams and captain Dewi Lake inside the first six minutes. Archie Griffin added a first-half try. New Zealand responded with scores from Ratima, Sititi and Fineanganofo to level the score 21-21 at half-time.

Eddie James and Louis Rees-Zammit scored early second-half tries before Peter Lakai pulled one back for New Zealand. Wales held up the All Blacks three times over the line to stop New Zealand scoring in the final quarter.

Coach Steve Tandy made four changes to the side that beat Japan, with Taine Basham making his first Test start in four years by replacing injured number eight Aaron Wainwright. Gabriel Hamer-Webb was preferred to Josh Adams, while Adam Beard and James Botham came in for Ben Carter and Alex Mann.

New Zealand made eight starting swaps from the team that beat Scotland 43-21, with full-back Beauden Barrett handed the Test captaincy for the first time in his 149th international.

The attendance was 55,152, the lowest crowd in the 14 matches between Wales and New Zealand at the Principality Stadium.

New Zealand still leapfrog the Springboks to top the southern section with one weekend of regular matches remaining.

The match officials were referee Pierre Brousset of France, assistant referees Nic Berry of Australia and Luc Ramos of France, television match official Tual Trainini of France, and foul play review officer Leo Colgan of the IRFU.

Sources

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