Just when you expect it the least. By what wild logic did Wales choose now to pull off a victory 73 years in the seeking? There may have been only 55,000 in Cardiff’s great stadium, but judging by the noise alone, Wales are back.
An extraordinary defensive display for the last half-hour kept wave after wave of New Zealand attacks at bay, each greeted as if the most sublime of tries by JPR, Gareth, Shane or JJ. None of those ever tasted this, but now a new generation of Welshmen, still young and hopeful, can add a win over the All Blacks to their CV.
New Zealand will claim top spot in the southern table of this championship, but courtesy of two bonus points, rather than the five-pointer everyone expected. They had made eight changes for this, after dispatching Scotland, who had been given a chance. But the changes made them vulnerable, and when each of them turned to the other in hope of the sort of authority and calm that might have applied to previous iterations, there was none. They hammered and hammered away, but could not force their tireless hosts into submission.
The stadium may have been some way short of capacity, but it was soon rocking as of old. Wales tore into their fabled visitors from the off. Tomos Williams, one of an increasing number of world-class players Wales are starting to build a new team around, was over within 90 seconds. His cut-out pass to Louis Rees-Zammit was in itself announcement of that class, but he followed up Rees-Zammit’s chip ahead and was able to dot the loose ball down for the game’s first try.
Cardiff more than stirred, but the Welsh know only too well that a sucker punch at the start of a match against this lot means not an awful lot. So Wales took it upon themselves to score a second just a few minutes later. They sent a penalty to the corner, where Dewi Lake picked a great line off Williams’s pass to crash over. Sam Costelow converted for a 14-0 lead. We had played barely five minutes.
Within 10, the All Blacks had responded. The way Cortez Ratima was able to break blind from an attacking lineout for his try would concern any defence coach. There was a sense of “here we go again” at that point, but Wales kept coming, exploiting any misconnections between such a changed team with precision and power.
None more so than Archie Griffin, steadily building a reputation for himself in Wales’s front row, an increasingly competitive unit. He barged over from another penalty to the corner to open up a 21-7 lead as the game entered its second quarter.
The All Blacks may have rung the changes, but they retained a few points of reference, none more fixed than Wallace Sititi at the base of the scrum. He claimed the All Blacks’ second on the half-hour, driving off another penalty to the corner, after Asafo Aumua’s drive.
These two were at the heart of the All Blacks’ best passages. Wales sent another penalty to touch with time up at the end of the first half. That they intended to play with it reflects a growing confidence. Alas, precision at the lineout was lacking here, and the All Blacks it was who made tell the final passage of the half. Sititi Aumua were integral again to the sweeping play that took New Zealand from one 22 to the other, and nearly three minutes into the red clock Quinn Tupaea put Fehi Fineanganofo over to tie up the scores at the break.
One might have thought the fun was over at that point, but far from it. Wales were over twice again within 10 minutes of the restart. A sweeping attack, All Blacks-style, saw Rees-Zammit tear down one wing, then James Botham charge down the other. Wales worked their way from there, closer and closer, until Williams put Eddie James over in the corner. Costelow converted again, from the touchline.
Then Wales came again. Jac Morgan won a penalty. Surely Costelow would take the three. No, to the corner again, Lake drove close, and Williams sent Rees-Zammit over this time. A 14-point lead with half an hour to go…
Of course, the All Blacks took over from there. Peter Lakai drove over from close range after relentless pressure to move the All Blacks to within a score with a full 25 minutes to go. It only precipitated some of the most heroic defence ever seen in this famous old patch of turf.
A passerby outside might have thought Wales had scored time after time in the last quarter, such were the roars, but, no, these were greeting the latest scarcely believable feat of defence. James, Gareth Jones, Botham, Max Llewellyn – each of them pulled off tackles that might not be recorded in the record books, but that they’ll cherish every bit as much as any try.
And, boyo, will Wales cherish this win. After so lean a period, amid such financial distress, it announces a new breed of player. They may have achieved already what their more illustrious predecessors did not, but will this spur them on to match those ancestors in more achievements? Watch this space.
