Wales have beaten the All Blacks for the first time since 1953, holding on for a 35-28 Nations Championship win at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Steve Tandy’s side scored five tries and then defended their line through a relentless final quarter to end a 34-Test losing run against New Zealand.
The result, which finished early on Sunday morning AEDT, is only Wales’ fourth Test win over New Zealand, after victories in 1905, 1935 and 1953, according to BBC Sport. The defeat came for an All Blacks side coached by former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, who took over from Scott Robertson at the start of the year.
Wales led 14-0, 21-7 and 35-21 before New Zealand fought back, but the hosts held the All Blacks up over the line three times in the second half to protect their seven-point lead.
How Wales did it
Scrum-half Tomos Williams and captain Dewi Lake both crossed inside the first six minutes, and prop Archie Griffin added a third try before New Zealand replied through Cortez Ratima, Wallace Sititi and Fehi Fineanganofo. Richie Mo’unga’s conversion of Fineanganofo’s try in first-half injury time levelled the scores at 21-21 at the break.
Wales struck twice early in the second half, with centre Eddie James and winger Louis Rees-Zammit scoring off long passes from Williams. Sam Costelow converted all five Wales tries.
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Flanker Peter Lakai scored New Zealand’s fourth try to cut the margin to seven, but Wales would not break. BBC Sport reported the hosts made 346 tackles, led by lock Dafydd Jenkins with 38, while the All Blacks’ official match report said New Zealand had 65 per cent of possession.
The five tries were the most Wales have scored in a Test against New Zealand, BBC Sport reported.
What the All Blacks said
Beauden Barrett, who captained New Zealand in a Test for the first time in his 149th international, praised the Wales defence.
“It felt like a brick wall at times, so you have to give them credit,” Barrett said, as reported by BBC Sport. “You give opportunities for the crowd to come into the game, and we are well aware of that when we come here.”
Rennie, whose side made eight changes from the team that beat Scotland 43-21 last weekend, said he had no regrets about selection.
“We had a good enough side on the field to win, and if you look at the stats, we had plenty of opportunities and the guys created a lot of chances,” Rennie said. “We just weren’t clinical enough, and they were very good defensively.”
“It hurts, but you’ve got to take it on the chin,” he added. “We’ve got to be better, we expect a lot more of ourselves, and I need to see a response at Twickenham.”
What it means for the Nations Championship
Despite the loss, New Zealand sit on top of the southern hemisphere table, one point ahead of South Africa after the Springboks were beaten by France, according to the All Blacks’ match report. They face England at Allianz Stadium next Saturday in their final pool match before finals weekend.
Wales had won only two of their seven Tests in 2026 before the match, 1News reported, including a 28-21 win over Japan last weekend. The crowd of 55,152 was the lowest of the 14 meetings between the sides at the Principality Stadium, BBC Sport said.
The Wallabies are also in action this weekend, facing Scotland at Murrayfield at 2:10am AEDT on Monday.
Read more: Wallabies Team vs Scotland: Carter Gordon, Rob Valetini Return
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