The dragon awakes after 73 years: Wales 35, All Blacks 28, all 80 minutes blow by blow

Seventy-three years. Thirty-four straight All Blacks wins. It all ended under the roof at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Sunday 15 November 2026 NZ time (Saturday 14 November in Wales), in a Test that kicked off at 3.10am our time. This is how all 80 minutes went, called from the couch as it happened and then checked against the match reports from both sides of the world.

TL;DR

• Wales 35, All Blacks 28. It is Wales' first win over New Zealand since the 13-8 result at Cardiff Arms Park on 19 December 1953, and it ends a run of 34 All Blacks wins in a row. Five tries is the most Wales have ever scored against New Zealand, and seven points is their biggest winning margin in the fixture.
• Nine tries in 53 minutes. Wales led 14-0 after six minutes and 21-7 after 25 through Tomos Williams, Dewi Lake and Archie Griffin. Cortez Ratima, Wallace Sititi and Fehi Fineanganofo, with his first Test try, had the All Blacks level at 21-21 by half-time. Eddie James and Louis Rees-Zammit made it 35-21, Peter Lakai made it 35-28 in the 53rd minute, and nobody scored again.
• Tomos Williams ran the show. The Welsh halfback scored the first try and threw the scoring pass for the other four. Sam Costelow kicked five conversions from five, and Wales did not kick a penalty goal all day: every time they reached the All Blacks 22 they went to the corner.
• Then came the red wall. The All Blacks had about 65% of the ball and 16 visits to the Welsh 22, and were held up over the line three times in the last half hour. Wales made well over 300 tackles. Dafydd Jenkins made more than 30 of them, and James Botham was player of the match.
• Milestones in black. Beauden Barrett captained the All Blacks for the first time in his 149th Test, one more than Richie McCaw played. Richie Mo'unga kicked four conversions from four in his second Test of the year. Dave Rennie had made 10 changes to his match-day 23.
• What next? The All Blacks still lead their side of the Nations Championship by a point, and a bonus-point win over England at Twickenham at 3.10am on Sunday 22 November 2026 NZ time puts them in the final. The questions for the review are all below, and they are questions, because Wales earned this.

The teams

Welsh players are shown with their clubs. All Blacks are shown with their Test caps before kick-off, as listed by allblacks.com.

Referee: Pierre Brousset (France). Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia) and Luc Ramos (France). Television match official: Tual Trainini (France).

Before kick-off

The All Blacks. Dave Rennie, in his first year in the job after taking over from Scott Robertson, made 10 changes to the 23 that beat Scotland 43-21 at Murrayfield a week earlier, eight of them in the starting side. Ardie Savea is out for the rest of the year. Codie Taylor and Damian McKenzie were rested, which ended McKenzie's run of 38 Tests in a row. Jordie Barrett was ruled out after a knock against Scotland, and Will Jordan has a hamstring injury. Cam Roigard was not in the 23 either. In came Asafo Aumua for Codie Taylor, George Bower for Ethan de Groot, Josh Lord ahead of Fabian Holland and Anton Segner for Tupou Vaa'i.

So it was a day of firsts and returns. Beauden Barrett led the All Blacks in a Test for the first time, from fullback, in his 149th Test, which took him past Richie McCaw's 148 and left only Sam Whitelock (153) ahead of him. He went into it with 50 Test tries. Anton Lienert-Brown won his 95th cap. Richie Mo'unga came back from a calf injury for his second Test of the year, in a brand new halves pairing with Cortez Ratima. Anton Segner, in his fifth Test, and Fehi Fineanganofo, in his second, made their first Test starts. The bench had six forwards and two backs, with Leicester Fainga'anuku covering both loose forward and the backline.

Wales. Steve Tandy, in his second November in charge, made four changes to the side that beat Japan 28-21. Aaron Wainwright was out with a calf injury, so Taine Basham made his first Test start in four years. Adam Beard and James Botham came in for Ben Carter and Alex Mann, and the Leicester wing Gabriel Hamer-Webb won his second cap in place of Josh Adams. Eddie James and Max Llewellyn started together in midfield for only the second time.

The mood. Wales had not beaten a top-eight side since the 2023 World Cup. They lost this fixture 52-26 a year ago, some bookmakers had them at 20-1, and tickets were still on sale on the morning of the match. The All Blacks, ranked second, would have gone to No 1 with a win. On Sky, former All Blacks first five Stephen Donald admitted he had expected little more than a training run. Had everyone, us included, written Wales off a little too early?

There was frost on the Cardiff streets and the roof was closed. The Welsh anthem was sung unaccompanied, and then the lights went out: the All Blacks performed the haka under a single spotlight while the Welsh team stood arm in arm on the 10-metre line, with red light and smoke rising behind them. The BBC put the crowd at 55,152, the lowest of the 14 Tests between these sides at this ground. The ones who came will be telling the story for the rest of their lives.

Welsh supporters at Principality Stadium for the same fixture a year earlier, 22 November 2025. File photo. Photo: Bearas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

First half: Wales 21, All Blacks 21

Times are the match clock from our live notes, cross-checked against the published reports.

Six minutes, 14 points

Kick-off. Here we go. Beauden Barrett gets us under way. The roof is shut, the noise has nowhere to go, and the All Blacks have a new captain, a new halves pairing and two first-time starters. Wales have 73 years of waiting.

1:28. TRY, WALES! Tomos Williams! Eighty-eight seconds, that is all it takes! Nicky Smith, the Welsh loosehead, beats Cortez Ratima to a midfield ruck and pinches the ball. Wales probe left, then switch right. Tomos Williams throws a 25-metre miss pass to Louis Rees-Zammit, and with his very first touch of the game Rees-Zammit chips over the top. The ball bounces back infield, away from Fehi Fineanganofo, and who has kept running? Tomos Williams, all the way to the posts. Sam Costelow converts.

Wales 7, All Blacks 0.

The Otago Daily Times saw an echo of the Scotland Test in it. Is defending deep in our own territory still a work-on?

4:39. Penalty, Wales. The All Blacks kick ahead and Asafo Aumua is ruled offside in front of the kicker. From the couch: was he? It is a call you almost never see made. Wales do what they will do all day and kick to the corner.

5:32. TRY, WALES! Dewi Lake! The captain finds Adam Beard at the tail with his first throw of the day. The maul rumbles into the 22. Tomos Williams sends Gabriel Hamer-Webb, then Taine Basham, then Jac Morgan at the line, one after another, then fires a flat pass across two bodies to his captain. Dewi Lake goes straight over the top of Scott Barrett and scores! It was effectively two on one. Could a second tackler have got across to help? Sam Costelow converts again.

Wales 14, All Blacks 0. Six minutes gone. The BBC says it is the first time Wales have ever led New Zealand by 14 points. Cardiff cannot believe what it is watching.

The Tomos Williams lesson

By now the pattern is clear. The Welsh halfback is doing what Aaron Smith used to do for the All Blacks: long, flat bullet passes away from the ruck and away from the defenders, creating space and doubt. Dave Rennie said before the match that Wales had one of the best halfbacks in the world, and he was right.

What matters with a halfback is the speed of the ball away from the ruck and the congestion. Hit the midfield early, create separation, and one-on-one defence becomes two defenders trying to cover three runners. Tomos Williams does it all afternoon and has a hand in every Welsh try. So here is a question for the All Blacks, and for Cam Roigard when he is back in the No 9 jersey: could a pass that leaves the ruck that early, with no step and no look, open the same doors for our backline?

The All Blacks answer

8:00. Turnover, All Blacks! Anton Segner, on his first Test start, gets over the ball and Wales cannot release it in time. Penalty, and the All Blacks kick for the 22.

9:34. TRY, ALL BLACKS! Cortez Ratima! That is more like it! It is the All Blacks' first visit to the Welsh 22. Lineout about 22 metres out, a maul that drags Tomos Williams wide, and Cortez Ratima ducks down the blind side, brushes past his opposite number and dives over. Richie Mo'unga converts.

Wales 14, All Blacks 7. An important try. The All Blacks are on the board.

11:11. Cortez Ratima box kicks, Josh Moorby gets up to compete, and the ball drops into the arms of Scott Barrett. Good kick or kind bounce, we will take it.

12:00. Turnover penalty, Wales. The All Blacks break down the right, Jac Morgan gets over the ball, and the Welsh openside wins the penalty. Dave Rennie said before the game that the All Blacks had to keep him quiet at the breakdown. That is the first of four turnovers he will win.

13:00. Wales are flying now. Sam Costelow sparks it, Blair Murray, the Welsh fullback who was born in New Zealand, makes the ground, and Louis Rees-Zammit is away down the right. Tomos Williams grubbers through, and who reads it? Beauden Barrett, who gets back to the ball superbly. A try saved by the captain. Wales go back to the penalty and kick for the corner.

13:58. Peter Lakai carries hard and Wales strip the ball from him. This is the start of a theme: Planet Rugby counted 15 All Blacks turnovers conceded by the end, to seven by Wales.

15:00 to 16:00. Chaos, glorious chaos! A full minute of end-to-end rugby. The BBC counted three interceptions in the space of 30 seconds. Wallace Sititi makes a huge tackle to force a turnover, Dewi Lake throws an ambitious pass that hands the ball straight back, and when the dust settles the All Blacks have a penalty. It is brilliant to watch. But is this the trap? Do the All Blacks want to be playing at Wales' tempo and in Wales' shape?

17:00. Scott Barrett charges into the Welsh 22 off a George Bower offload and looks for an offload of his own, and a covering tackle from Archie Griffin jolts the ball free. Knock-on. Would going to ground and recycling have been the patient play there?

17:13 to 20:00. The scrum that takes three minutes. Scrum in front of the posts, Wales feed. Can the All Blacks push them off it? First reset at 18:20. Then a penalty to the All Blacks, against the Welsh loosehead Nicky Smith. The All Blacks turn down the kick and back themselves with another scrum inside the Welsh 22. Third reset at 19:30, All Blacks feed this time. Penalty, but to Wales: Fletcher Newell is pinged for his bind.

Were Wales holding the weight in that scrum? Was either call on the fussy side? The BBC called it the moment the momentum swung back to Wales.

21:00. Penalty, Wales. Scott Barrett is penalised for a high tackle. Was it high? We watched it back and we are still asking. Wales are into the All Blacks 22.

22:33. Wales have a try on under the posts and Max Llewellyn has the ball ripped from his grasp with the line in front of him. Reprieve? No. Referee Pierre Brousset goes back for a penalty against Fletcher Newell for not rolling away. Other referees have been letting that one go lately, so will the All Blacks be asking about consistency?

22:45. Wales to the corner again. Five-metre lineout. The All Blacks hold the first drive. Good work.

Wales and the All Blacks in open play at Principality Stadium in the same fixture a year earlier, 22 November 2025. File photo. Photo: Bearas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

23:21. TRY, WALES! Archie Griffin! Adam Beard wins the lineout again. Tomos Williams goes to Max Llewellyn, then Dewi Lake, and three carries are stopped on the line. Then Williams pops it to his tighthead a metre out. Archie Griffin, all 130 kilograms of him, runs at Quinn Tupaea, a centre being asked to stop a prop from a standing start, and falls through to score with three defenders around him. Should a forward have been filling that channel? It is his second Test try in two weeks. Sam Costelow converts.

Wales 21, All Blacks 7. Twenty-five minutes gone. Sky called this some of the best rugby Wales have played in a long time, and from the couch it is hard to argue.

25:00. From the restart the All Blacks go wide off a long Cortez Ratima pass. Two phases later Beauden Barrett shapes to grubber through, a tackler gets to him first, and the ball goes forward. Can the All Blacks hold on for one more phase?

26:00. Scrum penalty, All Blacks! From the scrum that follows, the All Blacks pack gets the shove on and wins a penalty against Nicky Smith.

30:40. TRY, ALL BLACKS! Wallace Sititi! Yes they can! The All Blacks have two penalty advantages, a Richie Mo'unga cross-kick runs just too far for his wing, and play comes back. This time they choose the corner over the scrum. Wales stop the drive, Asafo Aumua peels off and charges at the line, Peter Lakai links with Wallace Sititi, and the No 8 reaches over. He was player of the match in this fixture a year ago and he is at it again.

32:01. Richie Mo'unga converts.

Wales 21, All Blacks 14. Three converted tries to two. How are the All Blacks only seven behind after that start? Because when they keep the ball in hand through the forwards, they score.

33:00. Cortez Ratima box kicks from inside the All Blacks 22. Josh Moorby takes it and finds Asafo Aumua, whose 50-50 pass goes to a red jersey. A frantic back and forth follows, and Richie Mo'unga ends it by putting the ball into touch from inside his own 22.

34:19. A player is down, and it is the first real break in the game. Gabriel Hamer-Webb, the Leicester wing in his second Test, has landed awkwardly on his right ankle fielding a kick. He is treated and plays on. Thirty-four minutes without a proper pause tells you the pace this is being played at.

From the restart Wales overthrow their own lineout and Asafo Aumua pounces on it.

35:00. Richie Mo'unga kicks from inside the Welsh 22 and Louis Rees-Zammit sends it all the way back. Beauden Barrett shepherds the ball towards the dead-ball line, hoping it rolls out. It pulls up short. Goal-line drop-out. In two kicks an attacking position has become a defensive one. Was there a pass on instead of the first kick?

36:19. Turnover, All Blacks! Wallace Sititi gets over the ball and wins it back. Pressure off.

To 37:40. Three lineouts, three stories. An Asafo Aumua throw sails over the top and Wales take it. Anton Lienert-Brown, in his first Test of the tour, wins a jackal penalty and the All Blacks kick up the field. Then the throw from that penalty goes long again, and Wales have it back and are running like dragons. Is it the throw, the call, or the long arms of Adam Beard, who has been a nuisance on the All Blacks' ball all half?

It is not all one way. Wales overthrow one of their own in the All Blacks 22 at 39 minutes. Blair Murray beats a man with a lovely step. Anton Lienert-Brown makes a try-saving tackle on Eddie James. And Anton Segner, on his first Test start, is jackalling superbly: he will finish with two breakdown turnovers.

38:54. Another penalty against the All Blacks, on halfway, and Wales kick to the 22. Was it a penalty? Mils Muliaina, on commentary, does not think so.

Here is the question from our couch: did a handful of first-half calls put Wales into scoring positions? To be fair, that is not how the match has been reported. The BBC, RNZ and 1News all put the result down to Welsh resilience and All Blacks errors, and Wales still had to finish every chance they were given.

And listen to the crowd. Hymns and Arias is ringing around the ground, and it is not even half-time.

39:54. A huge clearing kick from the All Blacks, and nobody chasing. Territory gained. Could a chase line have turned it into pressure?

40:28. Wales turn down half-time! Sky counted two chances to kick the ball dead and take a 21-14 lead to the sheds. Instead Sam Costelow kicks for the corner one more time. Adam Beard taps the lineout ball back, the All Blacks win it, and Wales give away a penalty in added time.

42:31. TRY, ALL BLACKS! Fehi Fineanganofo! From their own end! The All Blacks run it from deep and go from line to line, phase after phase, making ground and offloading. Wallace Sititi makes the big carry. Quinn Tupaea gets the offload away close to the line. And Fehi Fineanganofo finishes by the posts for his first Test try, in his first Test start, two and a half minutes into added time. Richie Mo'unga converts.

Half-time: Wales 21, All Blacks 21.

Wow. What a half of rugby. Wales are playing out of their skins. The All Blacks have trailed since the second minute and they are level. The BBC noted that it is the first time since 2016 that Wales have not been behind against New Zealand at the break.

The first half in numbers

The half-time splits are from the allblacks.com match report. Is metres the telling one? The All Blacks had more ball and more rucks, and Wales still gained more ground. Dave Rennie said afterwards that his side turned the ball over nine times in the first half, four of them from offloads.

Second half: Wales 14, All Blacks 7

Eight minutes, 14 more points

40:00. Wales kick off. Cortez Ratima finds Wallace Sititi from the take and he is driven straight back by the dragon defence. That has been the theme of the day, and it is about to become the whole story.

40:03. The whistle goes against the All Blacks straight away. What for? Mils Muliaina asks the same question on commentary, there is no replay, and Wales advance with the ball.

41:00. Wales attack down the outside and make 20 metres, then spin it to the other side and make another 10.

42:00. Now they smash it up the middle, right in front of the posts, and drive for the line.

43:13. TRY, WALES! Eddie James! Louis Rees-Zammit carries into the 22. Taine Basham, James Botham and Nicky Smith take turns hammering at the line. Tomos Williams dummies and is held up, but the ball is alive, and Wales keep coming. Fifteen phases, pick-and-go after pick-and-go, and then the halfback throws a long, flat pass that cuts out four team-mates. Eddie James, the Scarlets centre, is over in the left corner! Sam Costelow, his Scarlets team-mate, lands a superb conversion from out wide.

Wales 28, All Blacks 21. A 50-metre advance from halfway: 30 metres down one touchline, 10 on the other side and 10 up the middle, with the Welsh forwards and wings winning every collision. James Botham is having a great game on the flank. So is Tomos Williams.

46:20. Wales put a kick deep into the All Blacks 22. Beauden Barrett backs himself to run it out from under his own posts. He is caught, the offload does not go to hand, and Jac Morgan is over the ball like a limpet, right in front of the posts. Was the support close enough to its captain?

47:00. Penalty, Wales. It is a kickable shot. Do they take the three? No chance. Corner again!

47:30. Wales walk up to the lineout working out the plan. A last quick word between the tighthead, Archie Griffin, and the hooker, Dewi Lake. The All Blacks wait to see what is coming.

48:00. TRY, WALES! Louis Rees-Zammit! The throw goes to the second jumper, Adam Beard. The maul gets going, the All Blacks pile in to stop it, and it splinters. Dewi Lake breaks away and is pulled down just short. Tomos Williams fires a long pass to the right wing, and Louis Rees-Zammit strolls over where his hooker was stopped.

49:00. Sam Costelow converts from the touchline. Five from five!

Wales 35, All Blacks 21. Five tries: Wales have never scored that many against New Zealand. For the third time today they lead by 14, and both halves have started with two converted Welsh tries inside ten minutes.

The reverse angle shows how open that wing was. Josh Lord, a lock, was the last man defending out there. The wing may well have been at the bottom of the ruck after making the previous tackle. So who fills that space when he is, and who makes the call?

And the recap: that try started with a five-metre lineout, which came from a jackal penalty, which came from the decision to run the ball out of the 22. Run it or kick it? This time the run turned into seven points for Wales.

50:00. Changes. Xavier Numia and Pasilio Tosi come on for George Bower and Fletcher Newell at prop. For Wales, Dewi Lake goes off for a head injury assessment and Ryan Elias comes on at hooker. The Welsh captain will pass it and be back in 10 minutes.

The All Blacks come again

50:00. A pass floats high and makes Asafo Aumua reach back for it, and a big Welsh tackle drives him backwards. Five metres lost.

50:30. Richie Mo'unga breaks the line! He finds Cortez Ratima, who goes to ground. Wallace Sititi plays it on to the No 6, Anton Segner, and there is another ruck in the middle of the field. The All Blacks are going side to side. Where is the gap?

51:00. Anton Lienert-Brown finds one! A clean break and a good 10 metres before Eddie James hauls him down with a try-saving tackle. Cortez Ratima through the hands to Quinn Tupaea, down to a ruck, and here comes Wallace Sititi onto the ball at a hundred miles an hour. That is what we want to see.

51:30. The All Blacks are working hard. One, two, three, roll the ball. Fehi Fineanganofo, then through the hands to Anton Segner, but there is nobody outside him. This game is going flat out.

51:45. Scott Barrett goes through the line with two Welsh hands around his shoulders. Play on, no advantage. Is that the same picture as the one Scott Barrett was penalised for in the first half?

52:00. The All Blacks are two metres out. Wales come through the ruck. Are they playing the halfback there? The ball slows right down. Anton Lienert-Brown takes it into contact. Was there an overlap outside him?

Whatever the answers, this is amazing defence from Wales. They take man and ball to ground, stop the offload, stop what looked a certain try and buy time for the line to reset.

52:15. Penalty, All Blacks. Play comes back, and the officials take a look upstairs. From the couch it looked like a check on a possible hip-drop tackle. Sky's live blog had it as a check on a Welsh player off his feet. No card either way.

52:45. TRY, ALL BLACKS! Peter Lakai! Tap and go! Asafo Aumua takes it quickly. The first runner is stopped, the ball sits at the ruck, and Cortez Ratima finds Peter Lakai, who burrows over. The grounding looks tight, but Pierre Brousset is right on the spot and happy with it. Finally!

53:30. Richie Mo'unga converts. Four from four for him.

Wales 35, All Blacks 28. Nine tries in 53 minutes. Nobody knows it yet, but that is the last score of the match.

Credit where it is due: what epic, dragon-like defence from Wales to make the All Blacks work that hard for seven points.

53:39. Taking stock. Wales by seven with roughly a third of the game to go. The way Wales have been tackling, you would expect them to tire, and historically that is exactly when the All Blacks pounce. That is the expectation. Can Wales really keep this up?

54:00. Wales kick off to the 22 and the All Blacks take it. At the ruck the Welsh No 4, Dafydd Jenkins, comes right through the middle. Was he onside? It is right in front of the referee and there is no signal. The ball comes out slowly.

54:30. Turnover, Wales. A Welsh defender is allowed forward onto the halfback because the ball is judged to be out. Was it out? The long caterpillar ruck has been a talking point for years: the halfback rolls the ball back down the side of the ruck, well past the last man's feet, and defenders who move are usually told to stay back. This time the Welshman is allowed to go, and Wales have the ball.

If something has been policed one way for two or three years, how does a team adjust when it goes the other way in the middle of a Test? You play to the referee on the day. It is still a fair question.

55:00. Wales go to the bench. Steve Tandy changes both props, his No 8 and a wing in one go: Gareth Thomas, Dillon Lewis, Taine Plumtree and Louie Hennessey on for Nicky Smith, Archie Griffin, Taine Basham and Gabriel Hamer-Webb. Fresh tacklers, at exactly the point the All Blacks were hoping Wales would tire. Clever.

55:30. Penalty, Wales. What was that one for? We could not tell from the broadcast. Sky's live blog said the All Blacks were off their feet at the ruck. No shot at goal, of course. Sam Costelow kicks into the 22 for another lineout maul.

56:45. Lineout steal, All Blacks! Scott Barrett gets a hand to Ryan Elias's throw. Asafo Aumua passes back to Peter Lakai, who runs it up into contact. Wales compete hard at the tackle to slow the ball. Cortez Ratima box kicks and finds touch around the All Blacks' 30-metre mark.

57:00. And again! Another Welsh throw, another win for Scott Barrett, the All Blacks' No 4. He is winning the battle on the Welsh ball.

57:45. Tomos Williams has the ball sitting outside the last foot of a long ruck, the same picture as three minutes ago. The All Blacks do not go for him. Could they have? Wales did, and it was allowed.

58:00. Cortez Ratima box kicks. It goes high but not far. Two All Blacks play volleyball with it in the air and Anton Segner comes down with it. Relief.

58:15 to 59:00. The best All Blacks attack of the night. Anton Lienert-Brown steps outside, then inside, and is taken down. Asafo Aumua charges it up. Then Peter Lakai, off a short ball from Josh Lord, runs left, runs right, beats three players and looks for support. Fehi Fineanganofo is there, stays on his feet and bursts through two tacklers. Thirty metres gained! Wallace Sititi carries to five metres out. Cortez Ratima clears, Quinn Tupaea takes it up the blind side, and Anton Segner is stopped a metre from the line.

59:00. HELD UP! Wallace Sititi goes for it and Gareth Thomas, the replacement prop who has been on the field for only a few minutes, gets his body under the ball. So close! The All Blacks had thundered up the field and Wales did not have a full defensive line. Was the pass on? Wallace Sititi backed himself, as he has all day, and found the one place a defender was waiting.

A ruck in the 2025 Test between Wales and the All Blacks at Principality Stadium, 22 November 2025. File photo. Photo: Bearas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Twenty minutes of red wall

60:00. Goal-line drop-out to Wales. Dewi Lake is back on. Wallace Sititi brings the ball back and is met by two Welshmen. Cortez Ratima's pass from the ruck is on the ground by the time it arrives, but the All Blacks keep it. Asafo Aumua carries, then replacement prop Xavier Numia charges on.

60:15. Twenty minutes to go. Replacement prop Pasilio Tosi runs it up. Xavier Numia finds Quinn Tupaea, who gets through a good tackle. Xavier Numia goes again, is taken by three or four defenders and still drives on another five steps. The All Blacks are keeping it tight and battling.

60:45. Slow ball. Cortez Ratima goes back to Pasilio Tosi, then left. Anton Segner carries: two defenders. Quinn Tupaea cuts back in: two defenders again, driving him back. There are two red jerseys in every tackle. Is it time to go wide?

61:00. Richie Mo'unga has the ball, and outside him Josh Moorby has a clear line and a 15-metre gap. Is this the moment for the pass, or the little chip? The All Blacks go back to the middle of the field instead.

61:30. Turnover, Wales. The ball goes to ground, ruled backwards. Beauden Barrett dives on it and places it, and Wales drive straight over the top and take it, five metres from their own line. The BBC's live text called it a huge turnover by Taine Plumtree, the replacement loose forward who started his career with Wellington and the Blues. Sky's report credited Jac Morgan and counted 21 phases in the All Blacks attack. Who was there to clean out for the captain?

61:45. There it is again: Tomos Williams with the ball behind the last foot, not even inside the ruck. Do the All Blacks charge him? They do not.

62:30. Peter Lakai breaks again! He looks for a shoulder to pass to, finds none, and wisely takes the ball to ground with him. The support gets there just in time.

63:00. Penalty, All Blacks, and a warning. Adam Beard is penalised for not releasing. The referee calls time off and speaks to both captains, and Dewi Lake turns and tells his team in no uncertain terms what is expected. Planet Rugby reported it as a team warning: the next offence is a yellow card.

63:30. Asafo Aumua taps and runs. Here we go again: Cortez Ratima to Anton Segner, and on. Anton Segner carries into two tacklers on his own. On the line like this, are the carriers getting enough company? An isolated runner is one jackal away from losing the ball.

64:00. HELD UP AGAIN! The All Blacks go for the line through the forwards, with about three black jerseys to two red ones waiting outside. The replay shows the Welsh No 6, James Botham, lying on the ground underneath the ball. The reports differ on the carrier. The BBC and Sky say it was Asafo Aumua, which is how it looked to us on review. The Otago Daily Times and Planet Rugby say Xavier Numia, with Quinn Tupaea unmarked outside him. Was the pass on? In fairness, most players would back themselves to score from there.

64:30. The TMO check. The referee goes to the big screen. The first angle does not settle it. The second one does: James Botham gets his hand right under the ball straight away, scooping it up just in time. No try. It is one of the best pictures of a held-up you will ever see, a one-man effort of a kind you almost never get. What a save by the Welsh No 6.

65:00. All change. Wales replace both halves: Reuben Morgan-Williams and Dan Edwards, team-mates at the Ospreys, come on for Tomos Williams and Sam Costelow to see out the last quarter of an hour, and Ben Carter replaces Adam Beard at lock. The All Blacks make four changes of their own: George Bell for Asafo Aumua, Jamie Hannah for Josh Lord, Kyle Preston for Cortez Ratima at halfback and Leicester Fainga'anuku for Wallace Sititi. Dave Rennie said afterwards that Wallace Sititi had been going very well but had put in a huge shift.

The goal-line drop-out goes out to the 40-metre line and Quinn Tupaea takes it.

65:30. Fehi Fineanganofo puts a great fend on the Welsh No 23, Louie Hennessey, and keeps going, but three defenders bundle him over the touchline. Welsh lineout.

66:00. Penalty, All Blacks. Wales throw long over the back and come running through onto it, but they have left early. Offside, against replacement lock Ben Carter according to WalesOnline. George Bell, on at hooker in the No 16 jersey, has the ball in his hands. The quick tap seems to have been shelved.

66:30. George Bell runs it up. Good Otago boy. Was that a neck roll at the ruck by the Welsh No 20, Taine Plumtree? Nothing is given. Leicester Fainga'anuku, the No 21, carries next, and Taine Plumtree is over the ball in a flash. Turnover, on the Welsh line. Were there enough black jerseys at that ruck?

67:00. Rieko Ioane comes on for Fehi Fineanganofo. And once more the Welsh halfback, now Reuben Morgan-Williams, walks the ball out of the ruck with it sitting behind nobody's feet. In the old days you would have run round and smashed that. The All Blacks stay back. Wales went for the same ball back in the 54th minute and were allowed to.

67:15. All Blacks lineout just outside the 22, George Bell throwing, in the zone to score. It goes to replacement lock Jamie Hannah for his first touch of the game. A 20 to 30-metre pass finds Quinn Tupaea in the centre, and Jamie Hannah is back on the ball off the next ruck.

67:30. Jamie Hannah is chop-tackled and stays down, his arm hanging, in real pain. Play carries on around him. Kyle Preston is caught at the line. You can see a flash of white hair going into the ruck: that is Rieko Ioane. The medical team treats Jamie Hannah in the middle of the All Blacks backline while the attack goes on. Should play have been stopped? He goes off at 70 minutes for Ethan Blackadder, and Dave Rennie said later that it looked like an AC joint injury in the shoulder, with the arm in a sling.

67:45. Wales go over the top of the ball at the ruck. Not called. George Bell goes straight through the first two tacklers, gets back to his feet and goes again. At the next ruck a Welsh player is off his feet, and the commentators call it too. Not penalised. Should either have been?

68:00. Still the All Blacks cannot get through. This is very well done by Wales. Leicester Fainga'anuku goes through a gap and Wales are slow to roll away. Peter Lakai: two men in the tackle again. Pasilio Tosi: three Welshmen on him. Slow ball. George Bell again.

69:00. HELD UP FOR THE THIRD TIME! Leicester Fainga'anuku is over the line, and Wales have bodies under the ball again. Planet Rugby and Nation.Cymru give the save to Dan Edwards, the replacement first five. The BBC has Jac Morgan in the thick of it too. The Otago Daily Times thought one more pass would have done it. Was it on?

69:30. Another goal-line drop-out, taken by Quinn Tupaea on the 40-metre line and given to Leicester Fainga'anuku. From the ruck it goes to Pasilio Tosi, who fights it up. Wales are managing to slow the ball again.

70:00. Kyle Preston runs it himself and is caught. He squeezes the ball out to Josh Moorby, who secures it. Who is guarding the ball at that ruck? For Wales, Ryan Elias is back on at hooker for Dewi Lake, whose day is done.

70:30. Richie Mo'unga gets his hands free in the tackle and offloads, and the All Blacks get a quick five metres for it. More of that! Then a pass from Anton Lienert-Brown to Rieko Ioane. Was that forward? The referee lets it go. To be even-handed, that one went our way.

71:00. Wales are slowing the ball down at every ruck. It is freed and thrown out to the left wing, Josh Moorby, in the No 11 jersey, but there are three defenders waiting for him. Wherever the ball goes, three Welshmen are already there.

71:15. Knock-on. The pass is behind the man, he gets a hand to it and it goes forward. On the replay it may have come off his leg.

And look at what the replay shows. Wales have three players racing across to cover where the ball is going. Not one. Normally one defender goes and the others think, he has it, I will stay inside. Not today. All three move together. It is a wall of red. Every attack on the Welsh line is being defended by dragons.

71:30. Cardiff starts to sing. With the break in play the whole stadium is singing Hymns and Arias. At 71 minutes they can sense it. It has been 73 years, since 19 December 1953. Gareth Edwards is in the stand watching. Even in the 1970s, when Wales were to world rugby what the All Blacks were from about 2005 to 2015, he never beat New Zealand in a Welsh jersey.

A lineout in the 2025 Test between Wales and the All Blacks at Principality Stadium, 22 November 2025. File photo. Photo: Bearas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The last eight minutes

72:00. Scrum, Wales feed. A huge All Blacks push! Wales hold it, get the ball out and run it along their own line, and their second five-eighth, Max Llewellyn, pumps a kick down the middle of the field.

72:30. It goes straight to Beauden Barrett, who runs 20 metres, puts it in the air, gets right underneath it and reclaims it himself. Brilliant! A Welshman is onto the ball jackalling straight away, and the All Blacks arrive only just in time to save it. Slow ball again. With quick ball there was an offload on. Where was the support runner for the man who kicked it?

73:00. Leicester Fainga'anuku runs it up. George Bell, the replacement hooker, runs left, runs right and runs into the tackle. Then Scott Barrett, who has done his work in the tight today: scrums, lineouts and those two steals on the Welsh throw.

73:30. Kyle Preston fires it to Ethan Blackadder. Two tacklers on every carry again: one on the boots, one up top, and the one up top going straight for the ball. George Bell runs it through. A messy ruck. Will the All Blacks get their own ball back? Every time, that is the question.

This is starting to feel like the 2007 World Cup quarter-final against France on this same ground: keep trying, keep trying, cannot get through.

74:00. A short ball to Josh Moorby and he gets to the five-metre line. The All Blacks need a converted try to draw level. Ethan Blackadder carries again. The effort is a thousand percent. Is the plan as sharp as the effort? Anton Segner is standing on the touchline all by himself. Has anyone seen him? Is the kick out to that space on?

74:20. Josh Moorby goes himself and is tackled. Anton Segner gets in to support and the All Blacks drive forward. A Welshman has fallen on the wrong side of the breakdown and the ball slows down. No penalty. Should there have been one? Yes, the Welsh defence has been absolutely amazing. That is still a fair thing to ask on the goal line.

74:40. The ruck that decides it. At the next ruck it looks like a hand in red pulls the ball back, then the All Blacks pull it back again. The referee rules an All Blacks knock-on, after first signalling play on according to the Otago Daily Times, and after 26 phases of All Blacks attack by Sky's count. Was it a knock-on, or a Welsh hand in the ruck? Scrum to Wales.

75:00. Beauden Barrett goes straight to the referee to put his case, pointing back to the spot. With a team warning given at 63 minutes and the All Blacks camped on the Welsh line ever since, would a penalty there have brought a yellow card with it? The same report noted that Wales were not penalised once in the final 10 minutes.

75:15. The Welsh crowd is screaming. If you are in a red jersey on that field you are ten feet tall. Seven points up with a scrum on your own line: this is it, do or die. Get out of here safely and Wales will know, or at least feel, that they have the game.

75:30. The Welsh loosehead, Gareth Thomas, stands up at the last moment before the scrum sets. Game management, or slowing it down? The referee has called time off either way.

76:00. The scrum. Wales feed. The All Blacks get a shove on, but Wales get the ball away, and Blair Murray's left boot does the rest. The clearing kick is a monster: deep, and into touch all the way down on the All Blacks' 10-metre line. From their own goal line, that is huge.

76:30. The All Blacks do not throw it in quickly. Was the quick throw on? It was risky, but the clock is now the enemy.

77:00. George Bell's throw drifts towards the Welsh side and the All Blacks win it anyway. Into midfield, Leicester Fainga'anuku crashes it up, is hit by two Welsh tacklers, one either side, and driven back. Wales are giving it everything. So are the All Blacks.

77:43. Richie Mo'unga is dragged into touch with the ball. Welsh throw. It only takes ten seconds to score a try, but every second Wales can burn now matters.

The stadium is going nuts. This is the game to be at. After 73 years, most of the people in this ground were not alive the last time Wales beat the All Blacks.

78:00. Wales throw in, set the maul and march the All Blacks backwards: five metres, then another five, before it comes to a stop.

78:24. The Welsh halfback, Reuben Morgan-Williams, runs it up the blind side and is tackled and thrown back. Wales wrap around to protect the ball. The No 6, James Botham, picks it up and passes to the hooker, Ryan Elias, who takes it straight to ground with the defence on him.

79:00. Wales are doing the sensible thing. They are barely running it up, even going backwards, but they take the ball to ground every time, protect it, and run the clock down on a historic win.

79:20. George Bell throws himself into the tackle with everything he has, but cannot break the Welsh grip on the ball. Wales go to ground again, perfectly happy to give up five metres every time.

79:40. George Bell again, trying to break the tackle. Then a charge from the All Blacks through the ruck. Ethan Blackadder tries to jackal in the tackle. Wales hold firm.

80:00. FULL TIME! Reuben Morgan-Williams gets the nod from the referee, boots the ball out, and Cardiff erupts. Wales have beaten the All Blacks for the first time in 73 years, and they never trailed.

Wales 35, All Blacks 28.

The Welsh team, the stadium, the emotion of it. James Botham, the player of the match, is in tears at the whistle. He told ITV he could not describe how he felt. Then the camera finds Beauden Barrett. It was his first day leading the All Blacks, and it will be remembered as Wales' day. He will lead them again.

The match in numbers

These are the official figures from the Nations Championship match centre. There were no cards, and neither side kicked a penalty goal. Planet Rugby counted 16 All Blacks entries into the Welsh 22 at 1.8 points a visit, against 3.5 points a visit for Wales. Other outlets put the Welsh tackle count anywhere from 305 to 346. Whichever number you take, it is a mountain.

The Welsh tackle sheet. Dafydd Jenkins made 38 tackles on the BBC's count, 36 on Planet Rugby's and 40 on Nation.Cymru's. The BBC reported that on the early figures he had equalled the world record for a Test, set by France's Thierry Dusautoir against the All Blacks in 2007. Jac Morgan made between 25 and 34 depending on who was counting and won four turnovers. James Botham made about 30, Eddie James 25 and Adam Beard 21. Louis Rees-Zammit ran 95 metres, the most of anyone on the field, with four line breaks.

The All Blacks who stood out. Peter Lakai carried 19 times for 72 metres, beat six defenders and made 13 tackles, on RUCK's figures. Wallace Sititi carried 19 times for 55 metres and also made 13 tackles. Quinn Tupaea carried 22 times and threw the offload for the third try. Asafo Aumua carried 20 times. Anton Segner won two breakdown turnovers on his first start, Scott Barrett got up on the Welsh lineout throw twice in a minute, Richie Mo'unga made two second-half line breaks and did not miss a kick, and the NZ Herald's Liam Napier called Anton Lienert-Brown's game a strong return to the midfield.

Records and firsts. This was the 39th Test between the sides and Wales' fourth win, after 1905, 1935 and 1953. Seven points is the widest margin of the four. Five tries is a Welsh record against New Zealand, and the 14-0 lead was the first time Wales had ever led New Zealand by 14. Wales never trailed. The crowd was 55,152 according to the BBC and 55,142 according to the NZ Herald.

What they said

Dave Rennie said the All Blacks started both halves poorly and that Wales had shown more passion on the day, the NZ Herald reported. He said he had no regrets about the side he picked, that the review would cover preparation, selection and substitutions, and that he wants a response at Twickenham. He also made a point of praising the Welsh coaches: Steve Tandy, Danny Wilson and the defence coach, Pete Murchie, whom he worked with last year.

Beauden Barrett gave Wales the credit. "It felt like a brick wall at times," he told reporters, and he told allblacks.com that the Cardiff crowd made it feel as though Wales had an extra player or two. He said the All Blacks had been a little hesitant in their own half, and that one of the three held-up tries would have changed the game.

Steve Tandy and Dewi Lake were given a standing ovation as they walked into their press conference, RNZ reported. The Welsh coach called his players phenomenal. His captain said it was nice, for once, not to be sitting in that room disappointed. Dewi Lake had been replaced by the end and admitted to the BBC that he stopped watching with a minute and 20 seconds left.

Sam Warburton, the former Wales captain, said on ITV that the win would be sweetest for the supporters who kept turning up through one of the longest losing runs any top nation has had. Stephen Donald, who had expected a training run, said on Sky that he was shocked.

Sean Fitzpatrick, who won all six of his Tests against Wales as an All Black and whose father, Brian Fitzpatrick, made his All Blacks debut in the 1953 match, told the BBC the Welsh defensive effort was something out of this world.

The world's press agreed on the size of it. 1News called it perhaps the biggest Test upset since Japan beat South Africa at the 2015 World Cup. RTÉ's report called it arguably the most famous win in 145 years of Welsh Test rugby. The BBC listed the Welsh greats who never beat New Zealand in a Welsh jersey: Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Phil Bennett, JPR Williams, Shane Williams and Alun Wyn Jones. Planet Rugby pointed out that Wales have had four New Zealand-born head coaches, and that it was a Welshman, Steve Tandy, who finally did it.

One more for the trivia buffs: the NZ Herald noted that the Raeburn Shield, the unofficial title that passes from holder to challenger, went to Wales as well, and that the New Zealander who dreamed it up, David Algie, was on the pitch with the Welsh players afterwards.

The whistle: questions for the review

A standing section in RUGBE match articles.

Why this section exists. Referees and their rulings have been questioned a great deal lately, by coaches, by commentators and by crowds, especially on social media. We love a team winning for the right reasons. A referee is there to manage the game, not to direct the result. So whether it is something missed by a television match official who stepped in on smaller matters, or a call that looked different to everyone watching at home, we want the right calls and we want consistency. Ideally this section is tiny.

Why the small calls matter. The calls worth a second look are not always the obvious ones. A small penalty early in a game barely registers, but it can put a side into a scoring position, and a side nobody expected to be in the game is suddenly 14-0 up in front of its own crowd.

So these are the moments from Cardiff we would ask about. They are questions, not verdicts.

The fair counterweight. None of the main reports treat Pierre Brousset as the story. The BBC, RNZ and 1News put the result down to Welsh defence and All Blacks errors. The official penalty count finished level at 10 each and no cards were shown. Wales were penalised at the scrum against Nicky Smith, twice in a row before Wallace Sititi's try, and when Adam Beard's penalty brought the team warning at 63 minutes. And the All Blacks had 64% of the ball, 16 visits to the Welsh 22 and three held-up tries. A side with those numbers has had its chances.

Our verdict. Wales earned it and deserve every bit of the celebration. The questions are for the review room, and the answers may well be that the referee got them right. The principle stands either way: only the play should decide a Test.

What comes next

The All Blacks took two bonus points from Cardiff, one for scoring four tries and one for finishing within seven, and that keeps them top of the southern side of the Nations Championship table on 22 points, one ahead of South Africa, who lost 21-19 to France in Paris the night before.

• England v All Blacks, Allianz Stadium, Twickenham: 3.10am on Sunday 22 November 2026 NZ time. A bonus-point win guarantees the All Blacks a place in the final, allblacks.com reports. A win without the bonus point is enough unless South Africa take five points off Ireland later that morning, in which case points difference decides it.
• Wales v Australia, Principality Stadium: 9.10am on Sunday 22 November 2026 NZ time. Tickets may be a little harder to find for that one.

The All Blacks are seven wins and four losses for the year. The last time they left Cardiff beaten, after that 2007 quarter-final, the group that learned from it went on to win the next two World Cups. What will this group take from the day the dragon woke up?

The main image is a RUGBE illustration. The photos in this article are licensed file photos from the 2025 Test between Wales and the All Blacks at the same ground. Licensed photos of this match were not available at the time of writing.