Positives amid pain as Wales fall again to ruthless All Blacks
Wales boss Steve Tandy will have been encouraged by some aspects of Wales' play against the All Blacks
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Wales fell to a 35th consecutive defeat to New Zealand as the All Blacks produced a powerful performance and hit 50 points for the third time in a row in this fixture, despite a hat-trick from wing Tom Rogers and a Louis Rees-Zammit try.
But are there any crumbs of comfort Steve Tandy’s side can take from their 52-26 defeat before facing the world champion Springboks?
Encouraging attacking display
The performance against the All Blacks has split opinion - some taking encouragement from Wales’ attack, while others expressed obvious concern after another heavy home defeat to a much-changed New Zealand side.
It was the first time Wales had scored four tries against New Zealand since the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and the first time it had happened in Cardiff during an Autumn fixture. Meanwhile, 26 points is the most a Welsh side has scored in this fixture since the meeting in Australia 22 years ago.
Rogers made history by becoming the first Welsh player to score a hat-trick against the All Blacks, with his first score coming from transitional play, something head coach Tandy had referenced before the campaign.
Tomos Williams sent a box kick which was taken by Rees-Zammit, who beat McKenzie in the air. A clear-out from Adam Beard allowed quick Welsh ball.
Alex Mann acted as the link between forwards and backs to move the ball wide, and a smart delay from Max Llewellyn forced Samisoni Taukei’aho to commit. That freed up Dan Edwards, who took two defenders with him and offloaded to Rogers, who did well to pick up and score.
More smart kicking from Williams set up the second try, with a grubber kick collected by fullback Blair Murray, who was tackled by Will Jordan. This created space out wide for Llewellyn to fix Rieko Ioane and leave a simple finish.
The hat-trick score started by Dafydd Jenkins charging down a McKenzie kick before a box kick was gathered by the Exeter lock, who burrowed forward to provide a platform.
Joe Hawkins fired an excellent miss-pass which took three All Blacks defenders out of the equation, sending Llewellyn through to slip past Ruben Love and release Rogers, who stepped inside the covering McKenzie to create history.
Rogers mentioned how he wanted to earn his way back into the Welsh side after missing out on the matchday squad for the win over Japan.
“It was class and I'm really chuffed. It hasn't really sunk in. As a kid, it's your dream to play for Wales against the All Blacks. I've always been a fighter, and I wanted to prove to Tandy that I deserved a spot in the team."
Head coach Tandy was full of praise for the wing’s attitude after missing out on selection following the Argentina match.
“It wasn't a bad afternoon for him in fairness!" said the Welsh head coach. "When he got left out of the team, he was his own biggest critic. It’s realising it was one performance and it was only for a couple of moments.
“But then the reaction from him on the Tuesday to train after being left out of the team was incredible. He’s trying to grow his game. We have seen lots of learning on the other side of the ball this week which has been excellent, so massively proud of Tommy and the group.”
The harsh truths
For the second time this month, Wales conceded 50+ points, with the defence as a whole needing work.
It is important to note that Wales do not have a full-time defence coach, with former international flanker Dan Lydiate working on an interim basis.
There was plenty of fight within an inexperienced home side, but power and physicality are vital in Test rugby, and Tandy’s side are finding that out the hard way.
Scott Robertson’s team dominated possession, imposed their style, and were generally stronger than their Welsh counterparts, preventing much competition at the breakdown.
From 167 carries, the visitors made over 1,300 metres compared to Wales’ 593, and made only 85 tackles, whereas Tandy’s side completed 223.
After missing 30 tackles against Argentina, Wales missed 38 at the weekend, with one-up tackling looking poor in the build-up to tries for Tamaiti Williams, Ruben Love, and Sevu Reece’s second score.
With a penalty count of 14 conceded, plus two yellow cards, captain Dewi Lake spoke about how the pressure eventually told.
“We’ve spoken a lot about discipline this campaign, especially over the last couple of games. You give a team with the quality of the All Blacks that many entries into your 22, it’s tough to stop them time after time.
"We did very well in a couple of D sets, but it’s tough to back that up five, six times in a row so I think there’s a lot of learning for us around that.”
Selection issues ahead of the South Africa game
With the world champions coming to Cardiff this Saturday in a match outside the international window, Wales will be without several players.
The Welsh Rugby Union organised the fixture for financial reasons, with no other international Tests taking place next weekend due to the return of domestic club rugby. As a result, it falls outside World Rugby’s Test window.
Ten players from the 23 involved against New Zealand will return to their clubs, while Wales’ four professional regions also return to URC action without their international players.
The struggles within Welsh rugby have been well documented, but if they can avoid entering the record books for the wrong reasons against South Africa, there may be some positivity heading into the Six Nations.
