Wales Beat New Zealand After 73 Years

Wales Beat New Zealand For First Time Since 1953

The result ends one of the longest losing runs in international rugby. Wales had lost 34 consecutive matches to New Zealand since their last victory in 1953, a 73-year wait that covered generations of Welsh players who never beat the All Blacks. Head coach Steve Tandy, who took over in the summer of 2025 after working as an assistant with Scotland, had asked for an 80-minute performance in the build-up, and his side delivered exactly that: a fast start, a level half-time score they had reason to regret, a second surge, and then a defensive stand that lasted almost half an hour.

Wales arrived off a 28-21 win over Japan in round four, with four changes to the starting side. New Zealand arrived unbeaten on tour under head coach Dave Rennie, with Beauden Barrett captaining the side. On form and on history, the visitors were expected to win. Instead, the home side produced what Sky Sports called one of rugby’s biggest shocks of recent times, and did it in front of a Cardiff crowd that stayed loud long after the result looked possible.

Five Tries, And A Lead Built Twice

Wales scored after just 90 seconds. Louis Rees-Zammit chipped ahead down the right and Tomos Williams gathered a kind bounce to score, with Sam Costelow converting. By the sixth minute it was 14-0: captain Dewi Lake finished a rolling maul that had driven deep into the New Zealand 22. Cortez Ratima replied for the All Blacks on 10 minutes, breaking off a maul to dart over, but Wales struck again on 24 minutes when prop Archie Griffin scored from close range after Max Llewellyn had knocked on a chance he should have taken two minutes earlier.

New Zealand closed the half the stronger. Wallace Sititi fought his way over after another driving maul past the half-hour, and when Wales chose to keep playing deep in their own half instead of kicking the ball out to end the half, the All Blacks attacked from deep and Fehi Fineanganofo finished by the posts three minutes into stoppage time. Richie Mo’unga converted, and the sides went in level at 21-21, with Wales left to regret giving back a two-score lead before the break.

The response came immediately. Eddie James finished in the left corner on 44 minutes after Rees-Zammit had built the attack down the right, and Costelow converted from wide out. Four minutes later Wales turned down a kickable penalty, went to a five-metre lineout, and executed the set piece for Rees-Zammit to score himself. Costelow’s fifth conversion from five made it 35-21. The full scoring line tells the shape of the match: Wales tries from Williams (2), Lake (6), Griffin (24), James (44) and Rees-Zammit (48), all five converted by Costelow; New Zealand tries from Ratima (10), Sititi (31), Fineanganofo (43) and Peter Lakai (53), all four converted by Mo’unga.

The Defensive Stand That Closed It

Lakai’s try, five minutes after Rees-Zammit’s, cut the gap to seven points, and it was the last score of the match. The remaining 27 minutes were played almost entirely inside the Wales 22, and the home side held New Zealand up over the try line three separate times. On the hour, Gareth Thomas held up Sititi when a try looked easier to score. A 21-phase All Blacks attack then ended with a Jac Morgan turnover at the breakdown. With 15 minutes left, James Botham held up Asafo Aumua, and Wales denied the visitors once more after another long spell of pressure. Eddie James had already made a try-saving tackle on Anton Lienert-Brown in the build-up to Lakai’s score, one of five try-saving tackles RugbyPass counted in its player ratings.

James Botham, named man of the match, described the feeling to ITV afterwards: “I can’t even describe the emotions. 1953 was the last time we beat the All Blacks. It’s come from belief. The crowd was behind us. I just want to thank the energy and the noise behind us, you were unbelievable. It shows how tight we are as a group.” Former Wales captain Sam Warburton, also speaking on ITV, put the win against the side’s recent history: “We forget what this playing group has gone through. From Grand Slam champions to one of the longest losing streaks for a tier one nation, they were in the pits. Proud to be Welsh on a day like today, those players were magnificent.” The defensive system behind the stand is coached by Peter Murchie, the former Scotland and Glasgow fullback on Tandy’s staff.

What The Win Does To The Rankings And The Table

The result moved more than Welsh history. The defeat cost New Zealand 2.00 World Rugby ranking points and dropped the All Blacks to second in the world, behind South Africa, who return to No. 1 despite losing 21-19 to France in Paris on Friday night. Wales gained 2.00 points and climbed from 10th to ninth, on 79.37 points. In the Nations Championship itself, the win lifted Wales, at least for now, above Scotland in the northern hemisphere table, with Scotland still to face Australia on Sunday.

Both sides play again on Saturday, November 21. Wales stay in Cardiff to face Australia at the Principality Stadium, an 8:10 p.m. kick-off local time, while New Zealand travel to face England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, kicking off at 2:10 p.m. local time. For Wales, the Australia match is now a chance to prove Cardiff was a turning point rather than a single afternoon. For the All Blacks, a first loss to Wales in 73 years follows them to London, and the questions about the depth of this squad, raised in the post-match coverage, will follow with it. What cannot change is the line in the record book: on November 14, 2026, a run of 34 straight defeats that began before most of the Principality Stadium crowd was born finally ended, 35-28.