Jones says All Blacks 20 minutes ahead of the rest
For 69 minutes of a pulsating Millennium Stadium contest, Wales dared to dream.
Having not beaten the All Blacks since 1953, mission improbable was in sight of being accomplished when Jones and company led 16-15 on the back of three Leigh Halfpenny penalties and a converted Rhys Webb try.
But New Zealand then flicked a switch that plunged Welsh hopes into darkness, scoring three tries and 19 unanswered points as a capacity 74,500 crowd saw hopes of witnessing history disappear without trace.
“The scoreline showed they can just pull away in the last 20 minutes, as they have done before against other teams,” lock Jones said.
“I would say they are probably 20 minutes ahead of everybody else. I would like to think we can make up those 20 minutes. ‘Gats’ (Wales head coach Warren Gatland) is pretty intent on ensuring that the guys who are selected will be together for a long period before the World Cup. That will be telling in terms of where we are.
“This was New Zealand’s last game of the year, and they have finished where they want to be. I think they will have a lot more question marks after the pressure they’ve taken in their last few games, and maybe against us to a degree, I don’t know.”
The harsh facts are, though, that Wales have still not beaten New Zealand since 1953, losing 26 successive Tests and conceding more than 850 points, while their record against the All Blacks, Australia and South Africa during Gatland’s six-year reign shows a solitary win from 27 starts.
“I don’t think there was a secret in the first 60 minutes (against New Zealand). We were accurate and played in the right areas. We knew they were going to come out for the second-half and throw everything at us in the first 10 or 20 minutes. They did that and got the early score. We stemmed the tide a bit by getting one back, but the waves kept coming. The way their tries came — a couple of kicks, a tap back — these things come off when you have the experience, control of the loose play and the skills that these guys have got.”
WALES: Halfpenny, Cuthbert, J. Davies, Roberts, North, Biggar, Webb, James, Hibbard, Lee, Ball, A. Jones, Lydiate, Warburton, Faletau.
Replacements: L. Williams for North (66), Hook for Biggar (76), M. Phillips for Webb (57), R. Jones for James (75), Smith for Lee (75), Tipuric for Ball (62), Charteris for Lydiate (62).
NEW ZEALAND: B. Smith, Piutau, C. Smith, Williams, Savea, Barrett, A. Smith, Crockett, Coles, O. Franks, Retallick, Whitelock, Kaino, McCaw, Read.
Replacements: Slade for Piutau (57), Crotty for Williams (72), Perenara for A. Smith (73), Moody for Crockett (41), Faumuina for O. Franks (48), Tuipulotu for Whitelock (67), Messam for Kaino (67).
Referee: W Barnes (RFU).
