The Japan Times - Savea puts icing on All Blacks cake in Welsh demolition job

EUR -
AED 4.067465
AFN 71.990312
ALL 90.627335
AMD 404.431297
ANG 1.982267
AOA 1016.726333
ARS 1710.57938
AUD 1.618319
AWG 1.993581
AZN 1.885599
BAM 1.951914
BBD 2.255104
BDT 139.582093
BGN 1.935801
BHD 0.422399
BIF 3349.448824
BMD 1.107545
BND 1.431386
BOB 13.27906
BRL 6.184308
BSD 1.119667
BTN 105.224999
BWP 15.360735
BYN 3.352428
BYR 21707.879833
BZD 2.25182
CAD 1.579387
CDF 2563.966445
CHF 0.922723
CLF 0.02768
CLP 1089.391844
CNY 7.387712
CNH 7.383974
COP 3633.744028
CRC 506.439696
CUC 1.107545
CUP 26.869503
CVE 110.055817
CZK 24.385893
DJF 199.380138
DKK 7.475377
DOP 67.911228
DZD 151.620647
EGP 59.307255
ERN 16.613173
ETB 182.237045
FJD 2.512077
FKP 0.834016
GBP 0.835438
GEL 2.875558
GGP 0.834016
GHS 13.111375
GIP 0.834016
GMD 81.958112
GNF 9919.191373
GTQ 8.555738
GYD 234.619355
HKD 8.687078
HNL 30.096931
HRK 7.496982
HTG 146.761713
HUF 364.725177
IDR 20197.188604
ILS 3.516289
IMP 0.834016
INR 103.903604
IQD 1697.220851
IRR 2111063.625609
ISK 136.60431
JEP 0.834016
JMD 177.702241
JOD 0.785284
JPY 176.954675
KES 143.936361
KGS 96.854353
KHR 4566.34137
KMF 489.534619
KPW 996.790358
KRW 1475.859262
KWD 0.344856
KYD 0.932943
KZT 499.834834
LAK 25202.439053
LBP 100264.926457
LKR 372.104421
LRD 190.338224
LSL 18.356059
LTL 3.270292
LVL 0.669943
LYD 7.177326
MAD 10.922187
MDL 20.12003
MGA 5066.347521
MKD 61.552219
MMK 2325.539036
MNT 3992.592734
MOP 9.04589
MRU 45.167354
MUR 52.242751
MVR 17.054243
MWK 1941.501024
MXN 20.606424
MYR 4.520889
MZN 70.773444
NAD 18.354157
NGN 1490.467247
NIO 41.201874
NOK 10.597665
NPR 168.360757
NZD 1.991039
OMR 0.425858
PAB 1.119697
PEN 3.815503
PGK 5.028465
PHP 70.506385
PKR 307.425688
PLN 4.411466
PYG 6911.831479
QAR 4.081442
RON 5.346007
RSD 117.612262
RUB 91.993569
RWF 1656.551393
SAR 4.177896
SBD 8.960866
SCR 15.436901
SDG 666.186966
SEK 11.057951
SGD 1.423373
SHP 0.829901
SLE 25.365438
SLL 23224.66743
SOS 639.883773
SRD 41.69459
STD 22923.943087
STN 24.453631
SVC 9.796495
SYP 14400.298304
SZL 18.361018
THB 37.422282
TJS 10.289642
TMT 3.876407
TND 3.336957
TOP 2.666702
TRY 55.661878
TTD 7.592883
TWD 36.472
TZS 2944.030377
UAH 50.925177
UGX 4568.419925
USD 1.107545
UYU 45.303891
UZS 13406.308178
VES 997.333655
VND 28442.306534
VUV 132.84321
WST 3.087613
XAF 655.957
XAG 0.021468
XAU 0.000278102224
XCD 2.993196
XCG 2.017683
XDR 0.783092
XOF 655.957
XPF 119.331742
YER 261.939612
ZAR 18.387073
ZMK 9969.292258
ZMW 22.81264
ZWL 356.629003
SSP 6408.834546
MXV 2.315332
  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    19.81

    +0.5%

  • VOD

    -0.2500

    16.33

    -1.53%

  • CMSC

    -0.2800

    20.12

    -1.39%

  • RBGPF

    -2.0000

    65

    -3.08%

  • RIO

    -0.2500

    94.16

    -0.27%

  • BTI

    -1.2000

    54.85

    -2.19%

  • NGG

    -0.3000

    74.94

    -0.4%

  • GSK

    -0.3500

    49.35

    -0.71%

  • BCE

    -0.4200

    20.14

    -2.09%

  • CMSD

    -0.3400

    19.93

    -1.71%

  • BP

    -0.9100

    43.52

    -2.09%

  • RELX

    0.1700

    33.24

    +0.51%

  • BCC

    -0.6200

    75.97

    -0.82%

  • AZN

    -1.9400

    164.21

    -1.18%

  • JRI

    0.0000

    10.77

    0%

Savea puts icing on All Blacks cake in Welsh demolition job
Savea puts icing on All Blacks cake in Welsh demolition job / Photo: Geoff Caddick - AFP

Savea puts icing on All Blacks cake in Welsh demolition job

New Zealand coach Ian Foster hailed Ardie Savea's performance as "icing on the cake" as the All Blacks crushed Wales 55-23 in a comprehensive eight tries to two victory in Cardiff.

Text size:

Savea was part of a dominant All Black pack that carried effectively and bossed the breakdown, the No 8 diving over for a well-deserved try and also producing an outrageous dummy to set up Aaron Smith's second five-pointer.

"He's playing pretty good. For someone who hasn't played for a while, he didn't show any rust out there at all," Foster said of Savea.

"He carried strong, he's an inspirational part of this team, he leads really, really well off the field through his actions.

"When you see your loose forwards play like that, it's always going to be reflective of a dominant pack up front."

New Zealand raced to a 17-0 lead before Wales responded to make it 22-13 at half-time.

In the second period the visitors pulled away in style in a packed Principality Stadium.

"He was able to put a little bit of icing on the cake," Foster said of Savea's individual try before adding of the forward's comic-style dummy pass: "He's suckered me on the training field, too.

"He likes expressing himself and we quite like it when he expresses himself."

- Efficiency and patience -

Foster, whose All Blacks wrap up their Autumn Series with Tests against Scotland and England, said they hadn't expected such a positive scoreline.

"I just loved the efficiency of how we went about it," he said. "I loved the patience we had, Wales stayed in the game for long periods and put us under pressure but we rode through that... and we had a good scoreline at the end, we're pretty pleased.

"We didn't try and overplay our hand, they put a lot of pressure on us, and that didn't fluster us."

Foster added: "We've been building nicely through the second half of the Rugby Championship... and we really wanted to start without dropping a level."

But the New Zealand coach insisted thoughts had not already been focused on next year's Rugby World Cup in France.

"Test matches are about the here and now and for us it's always been about getting that balance between looking to the future but also knowing that every match is vital," he said.

"Nothing prepares you better for 12 months' time by playing well and getting good results now and there's some good stuff there."

Wales coach Wayne Pivac admitted that his side had bowed under the relentless All Blacks pressure, unable to "keep it in an arm wrestle".

- Losing streak continues -

The heavy defeat means Wales' long wait for a first win over the All Blacks since 1953 goes on, the Kiwis have won 33 consecutive meetings.

"We wanted a fast start and we didn't get that," said Pivac. "We were very pleased to get back in the game, but then New Zealand were good around half-time.

"We started the second half as we hoped, by scoring first. Unfortunately after that, we weren't able to exit. That was disappointing to concede and from there, we chased the game."

Pivac faces a tough couple of weeks, with matches against Argentina, Georgia and Australia to come in the Welsh capital.

"They've got speed of ball in our 22. We weren't able to do that. Like all good New Zealand teams, they did well at the breakdown. We'll look at that for next week," he said.

"There were a lot of good individual performances but we needed to be physical. That's partly because of where we're at in our season compared to them.

"There were moments to win the scoreboard area. We've got to make sure when we get into a game like that, we keep up the pressure rather than let them in."

S.Fujimoto--JT