Caleb Clarke of scores the opening try, All Blacks v Wales at Principality Stadium, Cardiff. Photo: www.photosport.nz
The All Blacks held off a brave Wales for a 52-26 win in Cardiff on Friday morning.
While the scoreline was ultimately comfortable, the home side was more than up for the challenge for long periods of the game.
Caleb Clarke showed early just how much he was missed last weekend against England, with some very strong carries and the opening try after only four minutes. Things were looking bleak for Wales, who had only won one test at their iconic home venue in the last two seasons, but they admirably threw themselves at the All Blacks off the kick-off.
Wing Tom Rogers, who was selected after a suspension to Josh Adams, then hit back with a well-constructed try only moments later. Damian McKenzie settled things down with a penalty before Ruben Love scored a brilliant try to push the All Black lead out.
However, a common theme of the test was the receiving team botching the resulting kick-off, with Wales taking advantage and sending Rogers over in the same spot as his first. Tamaiti Williams then bulldozed his way over to push the lead out to 24-14 for the All Blacks at the break.
Rogers scored his third and best try after the break to give the 70,000-strong crowd some hope, but a double to replacement Sevu Reece and another to Rieko Ioane made the game safe. Clarke and Louis Rees-Zammit traded tries in the dying stages to make the total by all the wingers to eight before the full time whistle.
Wales did make history though, Rogers joined a very select group of test players that have scored a hat trick against the All Blacks alongside Greg Cornelson, Ray Mordt and Andre Joubert. They spent an awful lot of time on defence, making 228 tackles to the All Blacks' 85 and only had a third of the total possession.
Damian McKenzie was perfect off the tee, landing eight shots at goal.
The All Blacks can certainly take a bit out of this one, given that they only conceded four penalties in the entire match. In contrast, Wales gave up 14 and lost two men to the sin bin, which will be immensely frustrating as that effectively cost them any chance of getting close to an elusive first win over the All Blacks in seven decades.
Read how the game unfolded here:
Team lists
Wales: 1. Rhys Carre, 2. Dewi Lake, 3. Keiron Assiratti, 4. Dafydd Jenkins, 5. Adam Beard, 6. Alex Mann, 7. Harri Deaves, 8. Aaron Wainwright, 9. Tomos Williams, 10. Dan Edwards, 11. Tom Rogers, 12. Joe Hawkins, 13. Max Llewellyn, 14. Louis Rees-Zammit, 15. Blair Murray
Bench: 16. Brodie Coghlan, 17. Gareth Thomas, 18. Archie Griffin, 19. Freddie Thomas, 20. Taine Plumtree, 21. Kieran Hardy, 22. Jarrod Evans, 23. Nick Tompkins
All Blacks: 1.Tamaiti Williams, 2. Samisoni Taukei'aho, 3. Pasilio Tosi, 4. Scott Barrett, 5. Fabian Holland, 6. Simon Parker, 7. Du'Plessis Kirifi, 8. Wallace Sititi, 9. Cortez Ratima, 10. Damian McKenzie, 11. Caleb Clarke, 12. Anton Lienert-Brown, 13. Rieko Ioane, 14. Will Jordan, 15. Ruben Love
Bench: 16. George Bell, 17. Fletcher Newell, 18. George Bower, 19. Josh Lord, 20. Christian Lio-Willie, 21. Finlay Christie, 22. Leicester Fainga'anuku, 23. Sevu Reece
Scott Barrett will captain the All Blacks against Wales. Photo: www.photosport.nz
