Wales beat New Zealand 35-28 in the Nations Championship at the Principality Stadium on Saturday 14 November, their first win over the All Blacks since 1953.
The result ended a run of 34 successive defeats, ITV News Wales reported. A crowd of 55,152 watched, according to ESPN.
The numbers
Wales scored five tries to New Zealand’s four. ITV said it was the first time they had ever scored five against the All Blacks. Tomos Williams, captain Dewi Lake, prop Archie Griffin, Eddie James and Louis Rees-Zammit all crossed, with Sam Costelow kicking five conversions, The Post in New Zealand reported.
Wales led 14-0 inside six minutes and 21-7 after 24. Cortez Ratima, Wallace Sititi and Fehi Fineanganofo hit back for the visitors, and it was 21-21 at half-time. ITV said Wales led by 14 points on three separate occasions.
James and Rees-Zammit then scored for Wales in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Peter Lakai’s try in the 53rd minute cut the gap to seven points, but New Zealand did not score again.
Defence decided it. RugbyPass reported that Dafydd Jenkins, Jac Morgan and James Botham each made more than 30 tackles. The All Blacks were held up over the line three times, according to The Post, and lost the ball 15 times to Wales’ seven.
The history
Wales had beaten New Zealand only three times before: in 1905, 1935 and 1953, Inquisitr noted. The 1953 win came 13-8 at Cardiff Arms Park.
ESPN called it arguably the most famous win in Wales’ 145-year Test history. It also came after a poor run of results since the 2023 World Cup and a string of off-field problems, AFP reported.
Reaction
ESPN described wild celebrations in Cardiff, with some players in tears at the final whistle. The NZ Herald said the streets of the Welsh capital would celebrate long into the night.
First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth was among those who responded. He wrote: “Congratulations Welsh rugby on the historic victory against New Zealand!”
Head coach Tandy told reporters: “We have got to savour moments like this.” He praised the players for delivering the positivity supporters had been wanting.
Lake said the squad had never doubted they could win. “Of course we did,” he told Yahoo Sports. He added that he would not reveal his half-time team talk.
New Zealand captain Beauden Barrett was gracious in defeat. Nation.Cymru reported him saying Wales “felt like a brick wall at times”. All Blacks coach Dave Rennie said: “We are massively disappointed.”
The All Blacks now face England at Twickenham in seven days, RNZ reported.
Sources: ITV News Wales, ESPN, The Post (NZ), RugbyPass, Yahoo Sports, Nation.Cymru, Inquisitr, NZ Herald, RNZ, AFP via The Citizen
This story was compiled by the MDW Newsdesk with AI-assisted tools, using the reporting credited above.
