Wales end 34-match losing run against All Blacks with 35-28 win

Wales beat New Zealand 35-28 at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, ending a sequence of 34 defeats against the All Blacks and securing their first victory in the fixture since 1953. BBC Sport's live coverage confirmed the result after Steve Tandy's side resisted sustained late pressure in the fifth round of the Nations Championship.

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The hosts scored five tries, with Tomos Williams, captain Dewi Lake and Archie Griffin crossing before the interval. New Zealand answered through Cortez Ratima, Wallace Sititi and Fehi Fineanganofo, leaving the teams level at 21-21 at half-time. Wales had established an early 14-point advantage, but the visitors erased it before the break.

Eddie James and Louis Rees-Zammit supplied Wales' two second-half tries, taking their total to five. Sam Costelow converted every Welsh try. Peter Lakai scored New Zealand's fourth, with Richie Mo'unga also finishing with a perfect conversion record. The difference was one converted try, and the visitors could not find another score to close it.

BBC Sport described New Zealand building an attack of more than 20 phases inside the Welsh 22 before a knock-on gave Wales a scrum. A clearance by Blair Murray and a later passage that ended with New Zealand taken into touch helped the hosts escape. Wales retained possession in the closing seconds to complete the win.

James Botham was named player of the match, according to the BBC, as the Welsh players celebrated on the pitch and then took a lap of honour. Their previous victory over New Zealand had been a 13-8 result in December 1953. Saturday's seven-point success finally ended a losing sequence that had stretched across generations of Welsh internationals.

Tandy had selected four changes from the team that beat Japan 28-21 in the previous round, the Welsh Rugby Union reported before the match. Botham, Taine Basham, Adam Beard and Gabriel Hamer-Webb were brought into the starting side. For Basham, selection at number eight marked his first Wales appearance since the 2024 Six Nations, making the historic result part of a long-awaited international return.