CARDIFF, Wales — Wales shocked New Zealand 35-28 for its first victory over the All Blacks in 73 years in a pulsating Nations Championship rugby match on Saturday.
Wales set the tone with a second-minute try by Tomos Williams and never trailed, but had to survive waves of attacks for the last, tense 27 minutes to preserve the seven-point lead.
It is the biggest upset in test rugby since Japan defeated South Africa in the 2015 World Cup.
“It was an unbelievable performance from the boys,” coach Steve Tandy told Welsh broadcaster S4C. "We spoke about attacking, building the performance and being brave and I thought the boys were, probably over brave before halftime, but they had intent to go after the game.
“When New Zealand were coming back after halftime it would be easy to doubt yourselves, but I thought the boys attacked it, the bench coming on as well, and in the last couple of minutes I thought they looked really composed."
The Welsh had lost 34 straight matches to the All Blacks after their last win in 1953. They had conceded 50 points to the All Blacks on their last three visits to Cardiff.
Wales has fallen on hard times of late. It lost a record 18 straight tests until July last year. It was last again in the Six Nations and was second-to-last in the northern hemisphere pool of the Nations Championship; it barely beat Japan last weekend.
The odds were so stacked for the All Blacks that only 55,000 people attended — 20,000 below a sell-out — the smallest crowd for a Wales-New Zealand match since the national stadium opened in 1999.
The All Blacks, who had beaten Wales by double figures in their last 13 matches, also anticipated a comfortable win by making 10 changes, including half of the starting XV which beat Scotland 43-21 last weekend.
“We had a good enough side to win,” New Zealand coach Dave Rennie said. “If you look at the stats, we had opportunities to win. But we weren't clinical enough, so I have no regrets on that.”
346 tackles
A Wales win for the ages came on the back of an outstanding, fast-paced attack followed by an equally unbelievable defensive performance of 346 tackles: Lock Dafydd Jenkins led with 36, Jac Morgan had 31 and James Botham 30.
The All Blacks, trying to bridge that seven-point gap, got over the Wales tryline three times in the last quarter but were held up each time.
Wallace Sititi was held up by Gareth Thomas in the 60th, Xavier Numia by Botham in the 65th and Leicester Fainga'anuku by Dan Edwards in the 70th.
New Zealand also mixed in two attacks of 20-plus phases but were turned over both times in the Wales 22 by Taine Plumtree.
At fulltime, Wales greeted the historic victory with leaps into each other's arms and tears of joy. The team posed for a photo on the field and did a lap of honor.
The defeat shook up the race to the Nations Championship final for the second time in less than 24 hours. South Africa and New Zealand came into the weekend as the only unbeaten teams after four rounds.
But South Africa lost to France 21-19 on Friday in an all-time classic in Paris and has been overtaken by New Zealand in the standings, but only by a point. The All Blacks, who failed to take the No. 1 ranking from the Springboks, face England next weekend while South Africa play Ireland.
Tomos Williams stars
Tomos Williams was at the heart of a Wales quick-ruck attack that stretched and broke through the All Blacks with remarkable ease.
A huge Williams pass found winger Louis Rees-Zammit and Williams won a three-man race of Welshmen to the ball in goal. That was the second minute.
In the sixth, captain Dewi Lake ran a great line off lineout ball and crashed over.
Scrumhalf Cortez Ratima fended off Williams from a ruck to hit back for New Zealand in the 10th.
Wales pounded the tryline and prop Archie Griffin was the next scorer to extend the incredible start and scoreline to 21-7.
But by halftime New Zealand was level with tries by Sititi and, long after the halftime siren, Fehi Fineanganofo.
New Zealand couldn’t keep it rolling in the new half. Fast, flat passes by Williams at the tryline set up scores for backs Eddie James and Rees-Zammit and, with Sam Costelow perfect off the tee, Wales was out to 35-21 in the 49th.
Flanker Peter Lakai replied for New Zealand from a tap penalty to close the gap to seven. There were 27 minutes left, plenty of time for yet another All Blacks revival that has broken Welsh hearts for 73 years.
But not this time.
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