Key events
TRY! Wales 0-7 New Zealand (Clarke, 5)
Too easy, too accurate, too slick! The line-out is won by Holland and they hammer close to the breakdown for a series of big carries down the blind. Then they pull the trigger after six phases, going through the hands before finding Clarke prowling on the left wing. He’s got too much pace and runs in for a simple score. Great. line by Ioane in midfield but the Welsh defence was simply not there.
McKenzie adds the extras from out left.
3 min: Assiratti strays offside after McKenzie darts through a half gap, putting Wales on the back foot. The big prop never got back behind the gainline so gives away a soft penalty. McKenzie nudges it downfield for a line-out just short of the 22.
2 min: Rogers hoists a high kick that is fielded in the backfield by the ABs. There is loads of smoke in the air from the pyrotechnics before kick-off. NZ run it from deep going coast to coast. It’s scrappy but they keep the ball until Ratima hoofs it from the back of a ruck. Jordan gathers it and they’re over halfway.
Alrighty, here we go! Nothing to lose for Wales. Just go out there and give it to the All Blacks! A proper chance to make a name.
Hollie Davidson becomes the first female referee to take charge of an All Blacks game.
She blasts her whistle and they’re off!
120 years on from the first time the Welsh anthem was sung before a rugby match – incidentally against New Zealand – they’ve done it again.
That was special. Really, really special. In a competitive field I reckon the Welsh anthem is the best in rugby.
Photograph: Nigel French/PA
The rest of the field is in darkness as the players are lit up by a single spotlight.
I love that! They’ve been doing the same in France for a few years and has apparently become the norm. Makes the whole thing feel a little more special.
Anthem time. New Zealand’s up first, then the Welsh.
The Principality looks a picture! I’m on my couch in London but I wish I was there.
If you consider yourself a true rugby fan and have not yet watched a game there, or hear the Welsh crowd sing their anthem, you need to recalibrate your bucket list.
On TNT Dylan Thomas’ ‘Dying of the Light’ is being recited in epic fashion.
A poignant metaphor for the almost impossible task facing the men in red this afternoon.
It’s been a challenging tour for the Kiwis.
They were eying up a grand slam autumn but England saw to that. And after less than clinical performances against Ireland and Scotland, they’ve not quite hit their straps.
“The boys are raring to go, actually,” captain Scott Barrett said in the build up. “It’s been a long week after a result like that at Twickenham, and we can’t wait to get back out there and put that performance behind us, and finish the Northern Tour strong.
“It’s easy; everyone’s telling us that, and the last thing we want to do is turn up and get smacked in the face by a Wales team that would desperately love to beat us.
So, we’ve prepared accordingly, given them the utmost respect, and what a place to play our last Test match of the year.”
Can you believe its been three years since the sides last met?
Took me by surprise I have to say.
Back in 2022 the All Blacks spanked their hosts 55-23 to stretch their unbeaten record against Wales to 33 games, a run going all the way back to 1963.
The numbers are not on Wales’ side.
– Wales have won only two of their last 21Tests
– New Zealand have scored 40 or more points in four of their last five games against Wales.
– The first half has been the highest scoring period in seven of Wales’ matches in 2025
– Kiwi winger Will Jordan has scored 43 tries in 52 Tests. I expect he’ll add at least one or two more today.
New Zealand team news
There are a dozen changes to the side that lost to England last week.
Damien McKenzie starts at fly-half and Ruben Love’s selection at full-back means Will Jordan switches to the right wing.
World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year nominee Fabian Holland starts in the second row.
New Zealand: Love; Jordan, R Ioane, Lienert-Brown, Clarke; McKenzie, Ratima; T Williams, Taukei’aho, Tosi, S Barrett (capt), Holland, Parker, Kirifi, Sititi.
Replacements: Bell, Newell, Bower, Lord, Lio-Willie, Christie, Fainga’anuku, Reece.
Wales team news
Welsh rugby is built on its connection with local communities and today we get a brilliant example of that.
Harri Deaves began his working life as a roofer but on Saturday the Ospreys flanker will run out in the scarlet shirt of Wales against the All Blacks to complete “an amazing story” from club rugby player to international.
The 24-year-old coaches in his hometown of Pontyclun and is the captain of the club’s darts second team.
He starts. in a back row that has a lot of mobility alongside 23-year-old Alex Mann and Taine Plumtree at No. 8.
Jarrod Evans, the hero from last week, starts on the bench again as Dan Edwards keeps his spot at fly-half.
There are five English-based players in the starting XV alongside Montpellier’s Adam Beard.
Wales: B Murray (Scarlets); L Rees-Zammit (Bristol), M Llewellyn (Gloucester), J Hawkins (Scarlets), T Rogers (Scarlets); D Edwards (Ospreys), T Williams (Gloucester); R Carre (Saracens), D Lake (Ospreys, capt), K Assiratti (Cardiff), D Jenkins (Exeter), A Beard (Montpellier), A Mann (Cardiff), H Deaves (Ospreys), T Plumtree (Scarlets).
Replacements: B Coghlan (Dragons), Gareth Thomas (Ospreys), A Griffin (Bath), F Thomas (Gloucester), M Morse (Ospreys), K Hardy (Ospreys), J Evans (Harlequins), N Tompkins (Saracens).
Preamble
Daniel Gallan
It wasn’t too long ago that this match would be the coming together of the best teams in their respective hemispheres.
In 2012 Wales won a grand slam in the Six Nations a few months before New Zealand claimed a clean sweep in the Rugby Championship. Generational players. Superstar coaches. An indomitable belief either side of the equator that men in red and men in black were almost guaranteed success.
Now the opposite is true. Wales needed a last-gasp penalty to beat Japan last week to hand Steve Tandy his first victory as head coach. Meanwhile, Scott Roberston is fighting for survival after his All Blacks were hammered by England’s bench at Twickenham.
Two great empires trying to restore their former glories but that’s where the comparisons end. Because for all the angst coming from New Zealand, they are nowhere near as low as the Welsh at present. The All Blacks still possess world class talent and a robust pipeline. Wales on the other hand have been facing an existential crisis for what feels like five years at least.
Anything other than a Kiwi romp in Cardiff would constitute a mighty upset. But that means that Wales have a free swing of sorts. Little expectation should equate to little pressure which cannot be said for the All Blacks. They simply have to fire this afternoon. Even a positive result won’t blow away the storm clouds. They have to set the Principality on fire.
Kick-off at 3.10pm GMT.
Teams and other bits to follow.
