Wales stuns All Blacks 35-28 for the first time in 73 years

CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — Wales shocked New Zealand 35-28 for its first victory over the All Blacks in 73 years in a pulsating Nations Championship rugby match on Saturday.

Wales set the tone with a second-minute try by Tomos Williams and never trailed, but had to survive waves of attacks for the last, tense 27 minutes to preserve a seven-point lead.

It is perhaps the biggest upset in test rugby since Japan defeated South Africa in the 2015 World Cup.

The Welsh had lost 34 straight matches to the All Blacks after their last win in 1953. They had conceded 50 points to the All Blacks on their last three visits to Cardiff.

Wales has fallen on hard times of late. It was last again in the Six Nations and was second-to-last in the northern hemisphere pool of the Nations Championship; it barely beat Japan last weekend.

The odds were so stacked for the All Blacks that only 55,000 people attended — 20,000 below a sell-out — the lowest crowd for a Wales-New Zealand match since the national stadium opened in 1999.

A Wales win for the ages came on the back of an outstanding attack followed by an equally unbelievable defensive performance of 346 tackles led by lock Dafydd Jenkins’ 36.

The All Blacks, trying to bridge that seven-point gap, got over the Wales tryline three times in the last quarter but were held up each time.

Wallace Sititi was held up by Gareth Thomas in the 60th, Xavier Numia by James Botham in the 65th and Leicester Fainga’anuku by Dan Edwards in the 70th.

New Zealand also had two attacks of 20-plus phases but were turned over both times in the Wales 22 by Taine Plumtree.

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The Associated Press