Another 50-pointer but Wales at least made the All Blacks work for it

YOU have got to congratulate Wales, even though the score suggests otherwise.

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The 26-52 scoreline was fairly similar to the Argentina game but we certainly made New Zealand work far harder for their victory.

But who would have thought we would be congratulating the team after another 50-point beating.

But we do need to put this game into some sort of perspective.

It is not so long ago that we were laying into the team after the All Blacks beat us by 50-odd points at the stadium.

If we had played against the All Blacks with the same level of commitment as we did when we played against Argentina or Japan, the scoreline would probably have been much greater.

Although New Zealand are currently second in the world rankings, they are still, nonetheless, a side under development with a new coach. The team we faced was far from being their first choice.

Not only that but while the full New Zealand squad were on tour, the All Blacks XV, in other words, their third team, had their own successful three-match tour.

Our defensive pattern was quite good. To have made well over 200 tackles stood testimony to that. In this respect, there were quite a few of the team who performed heroics.

Dafydd Jenkins in particular was prominent in this respect. In fact, he had one of his best all-around games.

Unfortunately, three of their tries happened, ironically, as a consequence of very weak, one-on-one tackling.

But where we easily came second best was in the contact area.