Following a 52-26 victory over Wales in the end-of-year Test at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday, here are the player ratings for the All Blacks.
15 Ruben Love: Some excellent things in attack after setting up Caleb Clarke’s try and scoring a nice individual effort himself, but beaten in the air a couple of times and his attempted tackle for Tom Rogers’ hat-trick was pretty abysmal. 6
14 Will Jordan: While the All Blacks have struggled in the air, Jordan has been one of their better exponents under the high ball, and he managed to gain some crucial territory with his work in that. Grew in influence over the course of the match and was making things happen. 8
Sums up a poor year for Ioane
13 Rieko Ioane: Quite frankly, very poor for the first 50 minutes, making two bad defensive reads for Wales tries and doing nothing in attack. He was better after touching down by linking play nicely when the game opened up, but Ioane is a shadow of his former self. He really needs to refind himself at Leinster. 5
12 Anton Lienert-Brown: Used on the crash for a lot of the game and did his job effectively against a weak Welsh defence. Ultimately, Lienert-Brown did his job very effectively. 7
11 Caleb Clarke: How they’ve missed the wing this year. Injury hampered Clarke’s 2025 season, and the All Blacks have suffered as a result, and he showed what they’ve been missing with a fine two-try showing. 8
10 Damian McKenzie: More good than bad, but not enough to really silence the doubters. The first half in particular was pretty mediocre, but he was much better when the bench came on and began to dictate proceedings. His place-kicking was immaculate, however. 7
9 Cortez Ratima: Needs to improve several areas of his game if he is to stick around the All Blacks set-up. Ratima has a lovely pass, but he’s a bit too cumbersome, while his kicking game simply isn’t up to Test standard at the moment. 5
Absolutely superb
8 Wallace Sititi: Magnificent from the back-rower, who has really found his form in the back end of the year. Sititi produced his best performance in the number eight shirt on Saturday, with the 23-year-old a ubiquitous presence in Cardiff. 8
7 Du’Plessis Kirifi: Was present at plenty of breakdowns and managed to slow Welsh ball down relatively effectively, but Kirifi needed a statement display, and he didn’t produce it. 6
6 Simon Parker: It was better from the flanker, who is still trying to find the best way of impacting the game at Test level. Parker was physical on both sides of the ball and never let Wales rest around the fringes. 7
5 Fabian Holland: Part of a dominant All Blacks lineout, while Holland worked hard in the loose, but he was slightly quieter than he has been this year. 6
4 Scott Barrett (c): Much more impactful from the skipper, who had plenty of joy in the set-piece and carried well with the ball in hand. 7
Front-row physicality
3 Pasilio Tosi: The scrum wasn’t too much of a factor, but Wales struggled to contain New Zealand’s gargantuan front-row in the loose. Tosi also made one hugely impressive breakdown steal close to his own line. 7
2 Samisoni Taukei’aho: Alongside Sititi, these two players roamed around the field causing absolute mayhem. Taukei’aho did his core hooking duties well but he was an absolute bowling ball in the loose, knocking Welsh players over at will. 8
1 Tamaiti Williams: Like his starting front-row colleagues, Williams was beastly with the ball in hand as that physicality proved too much for the hosts to handle most of the time. 7
Replacements: The All Blacks were not exactly convincing after 50 minutes with Wales still very much in the contest, but Finlay Christie was key to injecting more tempo at scrum-half. Equally, while Tosi was very good, Fletcher Newell produced a magnificent shift at tighthead and Sevu Reece finished his two tries nicely. Leicester Fainga’anuku was also excellent despite being given a limited opportunity. 9