Steve Tandy proud of Wales effort in New Zealand loss

Steve Tandy praised Wales’ “huge effort” against New Zealand as the All Blacks battled their way to a 52-26 victory in Cardiff.

The visitors ran in seven tries to end their year on a high, but Wales scored four of their own as wing Tom Rogers became the first Welshman to score a hat-trick against New Zealand.

Wales also recorded their highest number of points against the All Blacks in Cardiff.

Head coach Tandy said: “There’s lots to be proud of and lots to see how we want to go about the game. Some of the tries we scored were outstanding.

“Obviously there are things we need to work on and, ultimately, the scoreboard is not what we want and where we want to go.

“But the group, the toughness and effort they put in right through the game, I’m massively proud of them as a coach.

“It was a huge effort for a group that had three debutants and the boys understand where we want to go.”

Wales only trailed 24-21 after 50 minutes but their hopes were effectively ended by two yellow cards that reduced them to 14 men for almost 20 minutes.

Replacement prop Gareth Thomas and number eight Taine Plumtree were sent to the bin in the second half and New Zealand broke clear.

Harsh calls

Tandy said: “A couple of yellow cards doesn’t help. If I’m being honest there were a couple of harsh calls.

“At 24-21 Taine Plumtree (penalised for) not rolling away is pretty big in the course of the game.

“A couple of moments could have gone our way. A lot of 50-50s fell the other side, but as a group we’ve got to look at ourselves.

“The penalty count, a couple of early offsides, we could have been better and built pressure.”

Geoffrey Rees-Jones was the only previous Wales player to score two tries against New Zealand in 1935.

Scarlets wing Rogers equalled that mark in the first half and eclipsed it just after the break with a tidy finish.

“Not a bad afternoon for him,” Tandy said. “He’s a great man.

“When Tommy got left out of the team (against Japan) he was his own biggest critic realising his own performance.

“But there were only a couple of moments. The reaction for him to train on the Tuesday after being left out of the team was incredible.

“He has been trying to grow his game and I’ve seen lots of learning from him, defensive side of the ball as well.

“To score four tries and have a hat-trick shows the style we want to play as well.”

Fatigue

New Zealand head coach Scott Robertson said: “We knew they’d be in the game for 50-60 minutes and we were pleased to break away then.

“It took time to break them down, but we knew there would be (Wales) fatigue at the back end of the game.”