Wales v New Zealand: How can Wales end All Blacks hoodoo?



There was a time, shortly after World War Two, when Wales' record against the All Blacks was something to make the nation proud: a 75% win-rate, only one defeat in half a century to the men in black.

And then the next 61 years happened. There are bad runs in sport, ghastly hoodoos impermeable to passing years or pity, and there is Wales against New Zealand since 1953.

Played 25, lost 25.

It is the longest losing sequence against one opponent in tier-one Test history. Sure, Ireland and Scotland have never beaten the All Blacks at all. But both have at least drawn, and - with five Grand Slams between them to Wales' 11 - neither have they shared the same burden of expectation.

Occasionally it has been close: the 26-25 heart-breaker a decade ago, the 19-12 defeat five years later that might just have been different had Alun Wyn Jones not run horribly out of steam when cantering towards an unguarded try line.

Most of the time it has not. The average winning margin is 20 points.

So how can Wales possibly hope to overturn a side widely being touted as possibly the greatest ever? It's not logically possible. Or is it?

...More at link
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-union/30131605

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

NZ Captain Richie McCaw's 100th Test match

Rugby: Older, wiser Richie McCaw reaches landmark
5:00 AM Friday Nov 21, 2014



Ten years after his first test as All Blacks captain, a match against Wales at the Millennium Stadium which almost finished in defeat for his team, Richie McCaw - older, and a whole lot wiser - will play his 100th as skipper against the same opposition and at the same venue.

McCaw, who will become the first rugby international to lead his team in 100 tests, said when reflecting on his career that he had "no idea" what he was doing that November day in 2004 when the All Blacks escaped with a 26-25 victory over a Welsh team which could have won the test had they been more attacking at the end.

Asked what he had learned since - during a tenure in which he has presided over a devastating World Cup quarter-final defeat to France at Millennium Stadium in 2007, and a World Cup victory over the same opposition four years later in Auckland - McCaw, now 33, replied: "A whole lot".

...more at link
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/ar ... &ref=HBSEM

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Watching Live....Game about to kick off

Welsh Crowd have been in voice... singing the (Holy) Delila

PA Plays "Back in Black" AC/DC as Alblacks run out

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Welsh National Anthem - LAND OF MY FATHERS - sung by a Welsh Rugby Crowd at Millennium Stadium

Is the most emotional piece of Music I can imagine

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Half time 3 all

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Wales lost

Final score 16 - 34

Bum!

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light