The theory that New Zealand, having lost at Twickenham two years ago and having come close to being run out of the Aviva Stadium last November, do not finish their autumn tours well, was well and truly unpicked in Cardiff. At the very point when the first full house of the season at the Millennium Stadium dared entertain the notion that Wales might break their habit of the past 61 years and win their first game against the All Blacks for 26 games, the All Blacks responded. And what a response it was.
Richie McCaw had just given away a penalty for entering a ruck from the side and Leigh Halfpenny had landed the kick that put Wales ahead with 13 minutes to go. Two minutes later, Beauden Barrett had the confidence to put a little dink-kick behind the defenders – not every one of these probes he had attempted earlier had led to much – and he collected it in front of the nose of the Wales full-back and ran over for the try.
Three minutes after that, Kieran Read charged down a clearance by Mike Phillips, who hovered over the ball for a fraction too long, and ran in for his 17th try for the All Blacks. It was the 51st try that the combination of Read, McCaw and Jerome Kaino had scored between them, Kaino having scored earlier to start the deluge of tries in the last 13 minutes. The All Blacks back row had 265 caps between them. They are not exactly given to panic under pressure.
They had picked the game up by the scruff of the neck and just to make the point that they had energy left to make the margin look ridiculously easy, Barrett put a longer kick across the field for Ben Smith to chase. The full-back leapt and tapped the ball back to Barrett. A second try for the fly-half and a margin that made the victory look routine.
It was better than that for Wales. They had launched their defensive line against the tourists with a discipline and speed that caused all sorts of confusion in the ranks of their mighty opponents.
Sonny Bill Williams has spent most of his sporting life making whichever code he is practising seem ludicrously easy. Not often has he been made to look a little startled and ill at ease in the middle of the pitch. But for a long time he was made to look uncomfortable by Jamie Roberts, who was outstanding on both the front and back foot for Wales.
To add to the fumbled passes and the kicks that didn’t quite work for Barrett, there was the hunger on the Welsh side to capitalise on the mistakes. They could not put much on the scoreboard but the way Dan Lydiate was marauding and chopping down ball-carriers, it was clear that Wales were not prepared to be content with stopping. They came through the mini-crisis of conceding a try by Julian Savea early in the second half – the quarter that New Zealand traditionally control – by setting up Rhys Webb for his second try of the series. He combined with intuition and dexterity with Taulupe Faletau, the No8 who had a fine match.
Wales were still in the game at 10-10. New Zealand were a little rattled again, especially when the fiery Dane Coles ran in to seize Webb after a penalty was awarded Wales’s way. It could have been a yellow, but in the midst of the mayhem, the referee Wayne Barnes kept his composure and told McCaw to have a quiet word with the hooker. Wales moved out of danger, went downfield and earned the penalty that put them in the lead.
It was a test of the All Black desire. It was a test they passed without blinking. It is said they look to the past with fear, not wishing to be the side that lets their rugby heritage down, and to the future with a sense of adventure and daring. But they also look the present squarely in the eye and do not flinch.
They were superb again at keeping their cool when the heat of the moment was rising. Bang, bang, bang and the cliff-hanger, the nerve-jangler, the history-breaking opportunity was flipped into a 34-16 outcome. Yes, New Zealand can be vulnerable at the end of a tour. But not when it matters.
Players that needed to atone – like Coles and Barrett – rose to the challenge. Fresh legs came on and exposed the Wales lineout, hogged the ball and steered the game to its conclusion, led all the way by the remarkable Richie McCaw. One hundred games as the All Blacks captain; 88 victories. Ridiculously good. A legend, a theory-smasher.
