Fullback Israel Dagg has been recalled by the All Blacks to earn his 50th cap in Saturday’s second test against Wales as one of two changes to New Zealand’s starting XV.
Advertisement
Israel Dagg and Sam Whitelock come into the All Blacks’ line-up in place of Julian Savea and Luke Romano.
New Zealand turned on the style after the break, with the outstanding Beauden Barrett scoring a try and pulling the strings on his home ground after replacing Aaron Cruden, who was taken to hospital for precautionary scans having suffered what appeared to be a neck injury in the first half. Barrett made the outside break through the tackle of Jamie Roberts to create space which allowed Smith to step through remaining tackles to score.
The win not only means that the All Blacks are 2-0 up in the three-match Test series after winning the opening Test in Auckland last week but this victory also extends the All Blacks winning streak against Wales to 27 matches, the last time New Zealand loss to Wales was in 1953.
Three tries in 10 minutes in the second half killed off the game, pommelling Wales into submission. Dane Coles, Ryan Crotty, with a mis-timed kick, Naholo and replacement scrumhalf T.J. Perenara were also involved before Savea finished a thrilling move.
Wales refused to throw in the towel, though, and they struck back in the 74th minute when Williams raced clear from the halfway line for a try following some good footwork by Biggar, who added the conversion.
“That’s something we can learn and get better at. Obviously you want to start as well as you can but it doesn’t always happen”.
“It is important we go out on Saturday with the confidence to play for 80 minutes in what will be another huge Test match”, said Gatland. The tourists occasionally promoted the ball beyond the first receiver but rarely took on the defensive line with great zeal.
“It’s the matchday 23, so no matter who comes on, they have to front up and perform and make a big impact as the All Black boys did last week”.
Dagg has rebounded from missing the World Cup squad a year ago with outstanding form for the Canterbury Crusaders and is solid under the high ball, an area where the All Blacks had problems at times last week. While it was a midweek team it did feature Test captain Sam Warburton and Toby Faletau.
The same scenario unfolded in Cardiff in 2014, when they were up 16-15 in the last 10 minutes before New Zealand’s three-try blitz made it 34-16.
Advertisement
“It was tempting to play him again on his home patch but he’s working on a lot of things so it was felt that it was better that he didn’t play”.
