Wales beat New Zealand 35-28 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff yesterday, Saturday, November 14, scoring five tries and holding out through a scoreless final 27 minutes to beat the All Blacks for the first time since 1953. FINAL: Wales 35, New Zealand 28. The full match story is in iimiTV’s original report on Wales beating New Zealand after 73 years.
A day on, the win has grown in the telling, because the numbers and the explanations that only settled overnight are now in. Wales’ 346 tackles are a record tally, their captain has explained the half-time reminder that stopped a familiar collapse, and the result has moved the world rankings and the Nations Championship table in ways that were still being calculated at the final whistle.
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Wales 346 Tackles Set A Record Tally
The defensive stand that closed the match now has an official measure. BBC Sport’s Sunday follow-up reports that the official Nations Championship chart confirmed Wales made a record tally of 346 tackles, with lock Dafydd Jenkins topping the chart at 38. That 38 matches the tally set by France captain Thierry Dusautoir against New Zealand in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final at the same Cardiff ground. Jenkins was followed by Jac Morgan (31), James Botham (30), centre Eddie James (25) and captain Dewi Lake (24), and Wales had the top nine tacklers on the field.
The count needs one honest note. The next-day Lake follow-up records New Zealand Rugby’s completed match report at 332 Welsh tackles to New Zealand’s 122, with the visitors holding 65 percent of possession, and notes the two team totals differ by 14 with no explained difference in counting definitions. Whichever tally is used, the shape is the same: Wales defended for most of the match, held New Zealand up over the try line three times in the second half, and conceded nothing in the final quarter. All Blacks captain Beauden Barrett said afterwards that it felt like running into a brick wall, and that the Cardiff crowd made it feel like facing 16 or 17 players.
Lake’s Half-Time Reminder Changed The Ending
The other overnight layer is how Wales stopped history repeating itself inside the match. At half-time the score was level at 21-21, after Wales had led 14-0 and 21-7, and Lake used the break to confront a more immediate memory than 1953: a competitive first half against New Zealand a year earlier that unravelled into a 52-26 defeat. Lake kept his full dressing-room address private, but explained the point of it: “But it was more or less a flashback to 12 months ago when we were in a similar position at half-time. We were not quite in the lead or drawing, but there or thereabouts and it was just a reminder of that feeling for us.”
Head coach Steve Tandy praised Lake for leading that discussion and the players for talking through what the next 40 minutes would demand. The response was public: Eddie James scored early in the second half, then Louis Rees-Zammit crossed, both converted by Sam Costelow to make it 35-21, and after Peter Lakai cut the margin to seven, Wales protected a one-score lead for more than a quarter of the match. Tandy, who BBC Sport notes has become the first Wales head coach to beat New Zealand, since Wales had no head coach when they won in 1905, 1935 and 1953, said his players had been rewarded for 15 months of hard work. The Welsh Rugby Union’s official account marked the result on X on Saturday night: “WHAT A PERFORMANCE. WHAT A WIN. HISTORY MADE.”
Warburton Calls The Win A Catalyst
Former Wales captain Sam Warburton, who lost all five of his meetings with New Zealand, put the morning-after question plainly. Speaking to ITV, in comments reported by RugbyPass on November 15, he said: “Nobody gave Wales a chance and I didn’t think they would beat New Zealand, but I sometimes think we forget what this playing group has gone through. They were right in the pits and they slowly crawled their way out and had one of the greatest wins of all time in Welsh history.” He added: “I hope this is the catalyst for this team for better things to come.”
The settled consequences support treating it as more than one afternoon. The win also made Wales holders of the Raeburn Shield, rugby’s unofficial lineal championship, which passed from New Zealand with the defeat. In the updated World Rugby rankings, New Zealand dropped 2.00 points to 90.65 and stayed second behind South Africa on 91.53, while Wales gained 2.00 points and climbed from 10th to ninth on 79.37. In the Nations Championship, New Zealand’s two bonus points took them to 22, one ahead of South Africa in the post-match snapshot, while Wales can reach a maximum of 20 points by beating Australia with a bonus point, so they cannot top the northern section or reach the Grand Final, although second place remains mathematically open.
Both sides play again on Saturday, November 21. Wales stay in Cardiff to host Australia at the Principality Stadium, kicking off at 8:10 p.m. local time, in their final group match. New Zealand travel to face England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, at 2:10 p.m. local time, knowing a bonus-point win guarantees a Grand Final place. Australia will test what carries over from Cardiff. For one Sunday, though, the record book and the tackle chart say the same thing: the 73-year wait ended with the heaviest defensive shift Wales have ever recorded.
References
BBC Sport: Wales 35-28 New Zealand, reality dawns after Wales dared to dream, November 15. Heyday News: Wales 35-28 New Zealand, Dewi Lake’s half-time reminder. RugbyPass: Sam Warburton urges Wales to build on famous win over All Blacks, November 15. Planet Rugby: latest World Rugby rankings after Wales beat New Zealand. World Rugby on YouTube: Wales v New Zealand extended highlights. All Blacks on YouTube: All Blacks v Wales highlights, Cardiff 2026. Wikipedia: Raeburn Shield.
