Another week, another Welsh defeat. This latest one was 52-26 and to those who missed it will look like just another in their lengthy list of losses to New Zealand, which stretches back 34 matches. But it is possible, too, that for the men who coached it, and the men who played in it, for the tens of thousands watching in the ground and the hundreds of thousands watching on TV, it might yet come to stand for something more significant.
Wales did not exactly turn a corner here, but they took a little look around one and got a glimpse of what a better future might be like. “A lot of what we want to do and what we’ve been working on as a team shone through today,” said their captain, Dewi Lake. “We made them work for it.”
They were “courageous and fluent” said the All Black coach, Scott Robertson. Not to mention coherent and committed in defence, and smart and incisive in attack. Three times the All Blacks stretched ahead by scoring a try, the first of them after three minutes, and three times Wales managed to force their way straight back into the match by scoring one of their own.
They were all finished by Scarlets’ wing Tom Rogers, who became the first Welshman to score a hat-trick against New Zealand. But they belonged to his teammates, too, especially Tomos Williams, who made one with an ingenious grubber kick, Louis Rees-Zammit, who set up another with a superb catch, and Joe Hawkins, who made the third with a fine long pass.
Five minutes into the second half it was 24-21, with only a penalty kick by Damian McKenzie between the teams. Two of New Zealand’s three tries came from lineouts, one a simple finish by Caleb Clarke, the other an even simpler one by Tamaiti Williams off the back of a driving maul.
Wales Murray; Rees-Zammit, Llewellyn, Hawkins, Rogers (Tompkins 55); Edwards (Evans 68), Williams (Hardy 68); Carré (G Thomas 52), Lake (Coghlan 76), Assiratti (Griffin 52), Jenkins, Beard (F Thomas 70), Mann, Deaves (Morse 68), Plumtree. Yellow cards Thomas 58, Plumtree 68. Tries Rogers 3, Rees-Zammit. Cons Evans 3.
New Zealand Love (Reece 55); Jordan, Ioane, Lienert-Brown (Fainga’anuku 68),Clarke; McKenzie, Ratima (Christie 55); Williams (Bower 55), Taukei’aho (Bell 65), Tosi (Newell 55), Barrett, Holland (Lord 64), Parker, Kirifi (Lio-Willie 68), Sititi. Tries Clarke 2, Reece 2, Love, Williams, Ioane. Cons McKenzie 7. Pen McKenzie.
Referee Hollie Davidson (Eng). Attendance 68,388.
The third was a brilliant finish by Ruben Love, who cracked open a gap between Rhys Carré and Harri Deaves with a dummy and slipped through with a fine side-step, then sprinted 30 metres to score. If no one in the stadium really believed Wales would win, everyone enjoyed pretending that they might.
The atmosphere was feverish. The WRU had already laid on indoor fireworks and a light show, along with an a capella rendition of the national anthem and a brilliantly spot-lit haka, which was staged on a black pitch against the bright red backdrop of the grandstands. But what their paying public really wanted was a performance they could take some pride in. Their team delivered that for them.
It could not last. As the match approached the final quarter, New Zealand slipped into a higher gear. They scored three tries in five minutes. The first two were awarded but then disallowed by the TMO, one for a knock-on, and another after replays showed Rogers had just managed to hold the ball up by wrapping his arm around Will Jordan as he dived for the line. But the third, which was not awarded because the referee suspected there had been a knock-on before Rieko Ioane scored off a crossfield kick, was given after an intervention by the TV official.
From then on, things started to fall apart. Wales’s discipline had been bad all match, but it got worse when the All Blacks started to put them under really heavy pressure. First Gareth Thomas was sent to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle. Then, just as he was coming back on, Taine Plumtree went off as well for the same offence. So Wales played most of the last 20 minutes with 14 men.
New Zealand were never going to let them get away with that. They scored three more in the final quarter, two of them by the livewire Sevu Reece. Wales did manage to pull another back themselves, after some superb work by Blair Murray and Rees-Zammit, who dived for the line, one arm stretched out ahead of him, to score in the corner.
The stadium came alive with loud, joyful cries of celebration even though the team had not won anything. Time was when Wales were such a strong side they would play badly and still win. These days they are such a downbeat one that when they play well and lose, it still feels like a small victory.
