1 Nov 2019

Rugby World Cup: All Blacks vs Wales by the numbers

5:19 pm on 1 November 2019

Before the All Blacks take on Wales in the Rugby World Cup third place playoff match, RNZ has broken down some of the numbers behind the two teams.

All Blacks v Wales Rugby World Cup graphics.

Photo: Photosport / Suneil Narsai

New Zealand and Wales have met on 34 occasions in each country's rugby history.

Of those, the All Blacks have won 31 encounters to Wales' three - the two sides have never drawn.

Interestingly, the Dragons' three wins over New Zealand came in the first four match ups.

The first, at Cardiff Arms Park in 1905, was part of New Zealand's Originals tour.

Wales came away with a hard fought 3-0 victory in what was New Zealand's only loss during the tour.

The next time the two sides met was during the Invincibles tour in 1924. New Zealand, like they had for the entirety of the tour, dominated Wales in a comprehensive 19-0 win in Swansea.

All Blacks v Wales Rugby World Cup graphics.

Photo: Photosport / Suneil Narsai

Then, 11 years later in 1935, Wales were back to their New Zealand-beating best, winning 13-12 at the site of their first victory - Cardiff Arms Park.

It took 18 years for the two sides to face each other again as the world recovered from World War II. Again, like in 1935, Wales got the better of New Zealand, beating the All Blacks 13-8 at Cardiff Arms.

A decade on, the New Zealand team travelled back to the Northern Hemisphere for its 1963/64 tour and defeated the Dragons 6-0.

Since that day, 21 December 1963, it has been one way traffic for the All Blacks.

In their 29 encounters since, the closest Wales have come to beating the All Blacks was a 13-12 loss at home in Cardiff in 1978.

Wales came close again in 2004, but were edged 26-25 at Millennium Stadium.

The last time the two sides met was at the end of 2017 following the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand that famously ended in a draw.

All Blacks v Wales Rugby World Cup graphics.

Photo: Photosport / Suneil Narsai

In the Wales-New Zealand encounter, coach Steve Hansen managed to get one back over his Lions and Welsh counterpart, New Zealander Warren Gatland, winning 33-18 at Millennium Stadium.

In total, Hansen has won all six encounters between New Zealand and Wales while he's been at the helm of the All Blacks, and Gatland Wales.

Gatland does have one victory over Hansen though - the second match of the 2017 Lions tour.

At World Cups, the two sides have met three times - in 1987, 1995 and 2003 - New Zealand won all of those matches, scoring an average of 45 points to Wales' 17.

In total, the All Blacks have scored 1070 points in the 34 matches at an average of 31 points per game. Wales, meanwhile, have scored 374 points at an average of 11 points per game.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs