All Blacks quell Wales
The All Blacks completed the third leg of a potential grand slam tour with come-from-behind 29-9 win over Wales in Cardiff.
Last Updated: 23/11/08 12:56pm
The All Blacks completed the third leg of a potential grand slam tour with a 29-9 win over Six Nations champions Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
New Zealand overturned a 9-6 half-time deficit with a powerful second-half display, orchestrated mainly by their back-row's mastery of the breakdown and the boot of Daniel Carter.
Carter kicked five penalties and converted second-half tries from Ma'a Nonu and Jerome Kaino for a personal 19-point haul.
A fired-up Wales had been superb in the first half, but failed to turn their dominance into more than three Stephen Jones penalties and then paid the price once the tide had turned after the interval.
Haka stand-off
The match began with a great piece of theatre - Wales accepting the challenge of the Haka by standing their ground to engage their rivals in a prolonged staring contest.
Referee Jonathan Kaplan was keen to get the match under way and, after much prompting, eventually got his wish.
The stage was set for a ferocious opening 15 minutes, largely dominated by Wales, who opened a 6-0 lead through two Jones penalties, on both occasions awarded for infrigements at the breakdown.
Carter got the visitors on the board with a 17th-minute penalty, again after the eagle-eyed Kaplan spotted something amiss on the floor at the contact area, although the New Zealand fly-half hit the post when offered the chance to level things up at 6-6 a couple of minutes later.
Jones completed his penalty hat-trick on 23 minutes after All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw was penalised for sticking his hands in the ruck to kill a promising attack from Wales, who were full value for their 9-3 lead at that stage.
Final pass
It probably should have been more, the home side failing to find the final pass to cap their domination of territory and possession with a try.
But Graham Henry's men weathered the storm with some rock solid defence and reached the interval - spent almost exclusively on the back foot - just three points down when Carter landed his second penalty with the final kick of the first half.
And the All Blacks came out with a renewed vigour at the start of the second period, Carter immediately landing a three pointer to draw his side level at 9-9.
The video referee was soon required to determine if New Zealand's pack had managed to force their way over from close range - the television pictures were inconclusive and Wales temporarily survived.
But the visitors finally broke through when Nonu bagged the opening try in the 55th minute.
The inside centre enjoyed a simple finish after the ball - which had been moved through phase after phase to suck in the defence - was spun across the field from left to right to exploit Wales' lack of numbers out wide.
Double change
Carter added the conversion before Wales coach Warren Gatland rolled the dice by introducing half-back pair Dwayne Peel and James Hook off the bench, while lock Luke Charteris replaced the injured Ian Evans.
A fourth Carter penalty soon followed to pad his side's lead to 19-9 with just over 15 minutes remaining.
Wales finally got into an attacking lineout position but, when New Zealand were punished for encroaching into the neutral zone too early, Hook pulled the penalty attempt across the posts.
With that scuffed kick went Wales' final hope of ending their 55-year winless drought against New Zealand, a statistic confirmed beyond all doubt by Carter's fifth penalty in the 75th minute.
And the All Blacks completed the win in style when blindside flanker Kaino capped several phases camped close to the line by diving over.
Carter's conversion secured a 20-point margin of victory for the tourists, who now head to Twickenham to take on England next Saturday with the opportunity to blank the home nations.
