Hansen takes victories from his defeat

A stirring, at times exhilarating, match provided convincing evidence that the Dragon is once more stirring in Wales. It was not the finished thing, not by a long way, but there was fire to go with the smoke.

The scoreline flattered, and that Wales eventually lost was no shame. They competed for all but the final eight minutes or so, at which point the collective dragon ran out of puff.

But their coach, Steve Hansen, has fashioned a steely outfit that is fearless in attack and heroic in defence and, more importantly, one into which he has instilled some self-belief. "I think today the players did themselves and Wales proud," Hansen said. "We have come a long way in these four matches; now we have to go away, work even harder and grow as a group."

As for New Zealand, they might not admit it, but this win, their first in the last match of a short tour, will be a relief. No doubt they deserved victory, but not by quite as big a margin. Their coach, John Mitchell, was a happy man when he said: "The qualities shown by a lot of people have been tremendous. It is great to think that in 2003 we are going to have a difficult job selecting for the World Cup." And ominous for the rest of the rugby world.

Wales can console themselves that the first try they conceded was from a forward pass that the substandard match officials missed. And the second arose with two All Blacks off their feet at a tackle, face down in the mud – an infringement for which Wales were punished mercilessly. Even the last two All Black tries came deep within injury time.

All in all, Wales answered a lot of questions and turned in a quality performance. The first half had been played at breakneck speed, while the second fairly sizzled, culminating in a finish which saw Wales lay siege to the New Zealand line before being awarded a penalty try after an All Black kicked the ball out of a scrum, followed by the two late Kiwi tries.

Throughout the game, lung-bursting assaults were made from each side in turn as play was dragged first this way, then that. The pitch might have been sparsely grassed, but the going was firm enough underfoot to allow the thoroughbreds in both stables to have a gallop.

But what was dispiriting for the Welsh was the inconsistent refereeing of Tappe Henning. The South African invariably allowed three or more All Blacks to go off their feet at the breakdown, or to handle in the rucks, while unhesitatingly pinging the Welsh for similar "crimes".

In the course of racking up their highest total in Cardiff, the All Blacks fly-half, Andrew Mehrtens, eased into third place in the list of top point-scorers behind Diego Dominguez (986) and the leader, Wales's Neil Jenkins on 1,090. Mehrtens' 23-point haul took his tally to 932.

Wales's best moment came in the 13th minute when the Llanelli fly-half, Stephen Jones, toe-poked a loose ball beyond the New Zealand cover. The centre Jamie Robinson scorched in pursuit, covering the best part of 50 metres, and completely outran Tana Umaga before flinging himself on to the ball, which had come to rest over the line. Jones converted and the Dragon was smoking. Not even a second Mehrtens penalty could dampen spirits.

The All Blacks came back ferociously, pinning the home side in their own half and more often than not in their own 22. But the Welsh defence was awesome. All too often the desperate New Zealanders found themselves being knocked back a couple of metres in the tackle. The Wales scrum looked solid under pressure while the back row were magnificent, matching their equally superb opposite numbers metre for metre and hit for hit.

Wales went into the interval with heads held high and noses in front, but a side can only defend as intensively for so long and they went behind for the first time in the game when a Welsh hand was once again spotted at a ruck and Mehrtens landed the penalty.

Charvis whipped his men back into action, though. When a wild Mehrtens pass missed every All Black back, Robinson hacked the ball upfield and he and Gareth Thomas gave chase. The latter could not hang on to the ball and the move broke down, but the pressure was still coming from the men in red shirts.

It was match officials who let Wales down rather than defenders when the right wing, Doug Howlett, scored the All Blacks' opening try. The final pass from Umaga was clearly forward, a fact which replays on the giant screen showed.

Although Wales surged back late in the game, the All Blacks did their surging even later as the match moved into injury time, at which point the red-shirted heroes were ragged with exhaustion. But this was a positive step forward for Hansen's men. Next up are England here in February. It does not get any easier.

Wales 17 New Zealand 43
Tries: Robinson, Penalty try Tries: Howlett 2, Meeuws, King
Cons: S Jones 2 Cons: Mehrtens 4
Pens: S Jones Pens: Mehrtens 5

Half-time: 10-9 Attendance: 72,500

Team line-ups

Wales: R Williams (Cardiff); M Jones (Llanelli), J Robinson (Cardiff), S Parker (Pontypridd), G Thomas (Bridgend); S Jones (Llanelli), D Peel (Llanelli); I Thomas (Llanelli), R McBryde (Llanelli), B Evans (Swansea), R Sidoli (Pontypridd), G Llewellyn (Neath), D Jones (Llanelli), C Charvis (Swansea, capt), M Williams (Cardiff). Replacements: G Jenkins (Pontypridd) for I Thomas, 62; M Owen (Pontypridd) for Llewellyn, 62; I Harris (Cardiff) for Jones, 62; D James (Llanelli) for M Jones, 72.

New Zealand: B Blair (Canterbury); D Howlett (Auckland), R King, T Umaga (Wellington), J Lomu (Wellington); A Mehrtens (Canterbury), S Devine (Auckland); T Woodcock, K Mealamu, C Hayman, K Robinson (Waikato), A Williams (Auckland), T Randell (Otago, capt), D Braid, R So'oialo (Wellington). Replacements: M Holah (Waikato) for Randell, 48; M Robinson (Canterbury) for Blair, 54; K Meeuws (Auckland) for Hayman, 57; P Steinmetz (Wellington) for M Robinson, 79; B Mika (Auckland) for Williams, 80.

Referee: T Henning (South Africa).