Only Martin Johnson’s England side stand between the All Blacks and a third clean sweep for the men in black and after yesterday’s showing at Twickenham, you’d be a brave man to back the red rose army.
The All Blacks had to claim their win the hard way. Wales coach Warren Gatland would have been proud the way his side forced the All Blacks into basic mistakes in the opening 40 minutes which saw the Kiwis trail 9-6 at halftime.
Wales hadn’t beaten the All Blacks since 1953 and an upset looked a distinct possibility but Graham Henry’s men showed why they are rated the best team in the world by taking any half chance which came their way in the second spell.
Wales kicked off the match and immediatley took the game to the All Blacks. Andy Powell and Matthew Rees both made telling charges before Ma’a Nonu was penalised for a high tackle. Stephen Jones nonchantly chipped over the penalty to give Wales a 3-0 lead after just two minutes.
The men in black then piled into Welsh territory but Ryan Jones’s men stood tall and were able to clear the danger when the All Blacks were penalised for holding on. In the 13th minute Jones increased Wales lead with a wide angled penalty after Shane Williams scattered the All Blacks defence with one of his trademark mazy runs.
New Zealand then managed to keep the ball for several phases with Nonu and Brad Thorn looking dangerous. Eventually Wales were caught off-side and Dan Carter sent over an easy penalty to reduce Wales’s lead to 6-3.
The match then stepped up a gear when Carter’s penalty attempt hit an upright. Wales cleared the danger and worked their way within inches of the line before Stephen Jones was held up just short. However the All Blacks were penalised and up stepped the Scarlets flyhalf to send another penalty through the uprights from near the touchline to give Wales a 9-3 lead after 23mins.
Wales continued to take the game to the world’s best team. Tom Shanklin stole the ball at a ruck and fired the ball to Stephen Jones who saw his chip to the tryline line marshalled over the deadball line by Sitiveni Sivivatu and only moments later Lee Bryne cut through the All Blacks defence like a hot knife through butter but his pass was intercepted with the try-line at his mercy.
With the last kick of the first half, Carter rifled over his second penalty to see Graham Henry’s side trailing 9-6 at the break and the Grand Slam looking anything but certain.
Fired up by a Henry halftime pep talk, Carter levelled matters up in the second minute of the second spell. Byrne was then driven into the ground with a howitzer of a tackle from centre Richard Kahui. From the recycled ball, Nonu put in a probing kick downfield but were thwarted on the tryline by the covering Shanklin.
Referee Jonathan Kaplan went upstairs in the 45th minute after the All Blacks pack surged over the line but TMO Shaun Veldsman ruled no try. New Zealand tried to turn the screw and got within inches from two consecutive scrums but on the third occasion the kiwis were penalised and Wales relieved the pressure.
The All Blacks hit the front in the 55th minute with Wales stretched defensively as both Ian Evans and Byrne were prone on the deck. New Zealand sniffed their chance and took it with deadly precision as Nonu waltzed over to give Carter the opportunity to stretch the lead with his conversion, which he duly did to stretch the lead to 16-9.
Suddenly there was a sense of urgency in the All Blacks side which was lacking in the first spell. The Welsh scrum was penalised again for pulling down under their own posts and Carter made no mistake to give the All Blacks a 10-point cushion.
Replacement flyhalf James Hook had a chance to reduce the arrears in the 69th minute but his penalty sailed wide of the posts while Carter saw an attempt from halfway fail to make the mark.
The trusty left peg of Carter came to New Zealand’s rescue in the 76th minute when he fired over another wide angled penalty to give the All Blacks a handy 22-9 lead.
In the last move of the match Jerome Kaino powered over to give Carter another easy conversion for the Crusaders fly-half to finish the match with a personal haul of 19 points.
