Wales 23-55 New Zealand
by David Nicholson
at the Millennium Stadium

WALES sunk to a 32-point loss to the All Blacks on Saturday in Cardiff, as the visitors ran in eight tries and stretched their winning streak to 70 years.

But Wales head coach Wayne Pivac was philosophical after the game, explaining that he had his players together for just two weeks and believes his side will get better as the autumn Test series continues.

“New Zealand are battle-hardened after a string of games together in the Rugby Championship, including last weekend’s game in Tokyo, but we will improve.”

The home side had clawed their way back in the game to get within six points of New Zealand with 30 minutes to play.

But just as the home crowd were daring to believe the hoodoo might finally be overcome, the mighty All Blacks went through the gears and buried the Welsh revival with a final quarter of clinical finishing.

"When they got into our 22, they came away with points very often, and that's concerning,” Pivac said.

"We weren't able to exit a few times, which gave them tries and meant we were chasing the game.”

Debutant winger Rio Dyer managed to get onto the scoresheet for Wales with his first try, but he and fellow winger, Louis Rees-Zammit, were starved of decent attacking ball.

New Zealand head coach Ian Foster said the conditions were very slippery even with the roof was closed, and that was why his side made some uncharacteristic handling errors in the opening 20 minutes.

“Wales put us under great pressure but we rode that out. We are still building the side but we have developed a nice pattern now.

“We want to physically impose ourselves through our forwards because it is upfront where games are won and lost.”

Foster and his captain Sam Whitelock are looking forward to their next challenge of playing Scotland at Murrayfield.

“Scotland are a great side and have a good record at home and will be a big challenge for us,” Whitelock said.

With Argentina arriving in Cardiff next weekend, Pivac and his side will be under intense pressure to beat difficult opponents.

"We'll review this game and look to improve. We've got three more games and we need to maximise those opportunities to win,” Pivac said.

The Welsh public will not accept any more defeats like this one and with next year’s Six Nations and Rugby World rapidly approaching the time to build the team is running out.