{"id":149963,"date":"2025-11-23T18:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T18:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/149963\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T18:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T18:08:11","slug":"all-blacks-v-wales-victory-offers-signs-of-redemption-ahead-of-2026-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/149963\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks v Wales: Victory offers signs of redemption ahead of 2026 tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

The low points of the 33-19 loss to England<\/a>, and the nightmare in Wellington when South Africa won 43-10<\/a>, won\u2019t be erased by the win in Cardiff. But a real chance of redemption for the All Blacks will be offered next year.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks\u2019 2026 programme, which includes a tour of South Africa<\/a> and a rematch with England in London, will be brutally demanding. But it\u2019s also \u2013 if the All Blacks can manage it \u2013 a perfect chance to prepare for the World Cup in 2027.<\/p>\n

\"AllAll Blacks coach Scott Robertson takes his side to South Africa next year. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Man of the match<\/p>\n

The All Blacks forward coach, Jason Ryan, is unequivocal when you ask him about Wallace Sititi. The Chiefs man\u2019s best position, Ryan will tell you without a moment of hesitation, is No 8 \u2013 and he predicted great things for Sititi on the northern tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Against Wales, Sititi had probably his best game of the year.<\/a> Not all brilliant runners with the ball are that keen about getting involved in the dark and dirty work of winning the breakdown. Sititi is happy to do it all. It may still be early days in what is hopefully a long career, but Sititi \u2013 intelligent and able to express himself well \u2013 shapes as a future All Blacks captain.<\/p>\n

Man of the season<\/p>\n

World Rugby\u2019s Breakthrough Player of the Year, Fabian Holland, was once again outstanding against Wales<\/a>. His lineout work has reached the stage where the All Blacks threw almost exclusively to him in Cardiff. Not once did he fail to take the ball cleanly.<\/p>\n

Looking to the future<\/p>\n

Given a start, after what must have been starting to feel like an eternity in the wings, Ruben Love seized his opportunity<\/a>. Once the game was in the bag for the All Blacks, it would have been fascinating to see Love have a shot, even if it was brief, at first five-eighths.<\/p>\n

One of the intriguing questions in Super Rugby Pacific next year will be how often, and how well, Love manages to run the Hurricanes backline. He has a well-justified confidence in his own ability, a trait essential in international sport of every kind.<\/p>\n

Cheers for the ref<\/p>\n

One of the great bugbears for Kiwi rugby fans has often been the pin-pricking attitude taken by northern referees. So it was a real pleasure to see how Scottish woman Hollie Davidson<\/a> ran the test in Cardiff. We all now know that if you want decisive officiating and a game that has fluidity, then if a Southern Hemisphere referee can\u2019t be used, the answer is pretty simple. Give Johnson more big games.<\/p>\n

Jonah was equally great off the field<\/p>\n

The sadness of the 10th anniversary of Jonah Lomu\u2019s death<\/a> was a reminder of how lucky rugby was that the sport\u2019s first global superstar was a good man off the field, too.<\/p>\n

In the lobby of the All Blacks\u2019 Johannesburg hotel, the luxurious Crowne Plaza, three days before the final of the 1995 World Cup, I saw a perfect example of his grace and class<\/a>. Among the besuited businessmen was a group of excited girls from a nearby private school.<\/p>\n

An All Blacks team meeting on the ground floor broke up. Players started to saunter out, and then a huge man, with an \u201c11\u201d shaved into his left eyebrow, emerged. One tiny girl, faster than her classmates, exploded across the foyer, launched herself into the air, and locked her legs around Lomu\u2019s midriff. Like her friends, she was screaming.<\/p>\n

\"JonahJonah Lomu on the charge against England. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

Lomu hardly blinked, but, like a skilled hostage negotiator, quietly talked her down. With great dignity, he carefully prised her limbs away. A series of quick photographs followed and then, as much as is possible for a giant man among a throng of small girls, he gently slipped away to a lift.<\/p>\n

Manu Samoa captain Peter Fatialofa, a teammate of Lomu for Counties, understood the man. \u201cJonah has never changed. People around him have acted differently, but he\u2019s always stayed a good South Auckland boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phil Gifford<\/a> is a Contributing Sports Writer for NZME. He is one of the most-respected voices in New Zealand sports journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The low points of the 33-19 loss to England, and the nightmare in Wellington when South Africa won…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,99406,1443,9092,3017,5263,50243,20206,8136,4527,14768,111,43,139,69,1118,8617,34957,24996,52591,5652,1960,208,8496,8982,1491,80],"class_list":["post-149963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-99406","tag-about","tag-against","tag-ahead","tag-all","tag-anticipated","tag-bear","tag-blacks","tag-doesnt","tag-every","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-offers","tag-prediction","tag-reaction","tag-redemption","tag-signs","tag-thinking","tag-tour","tag-upset","tag-victory","tag-wales","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}