All Blacks look for response at Twickenham after Wales defeat
All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has called for a response against England at Twickenham after failing to turn sustained pressure into points in their Nations Championship defeat to Wales in Cardiff.
Watch: All Blacks React to Wales Result | Press Conference (Cardiff)
New Zealand had the possession and territory to get back into the match, but Wales repeatedly kept them out.
Beauden Barrett said the All Blacks were held up three times and felt a try from any of those chances could have changed the game.
“It’s a tough one to take, particularly when we were building a lot of pressure and we just couldn’t convert that into points,” Barrett said.
“Numerous times we were held up, and just felt like we needed one of those to get right back in the game and level the scoreboard and the whole game would have changed.”
Barrett said the longer Wales held out, the more the Cardiff crowd came into the game.
“That’s why it’s one of the best places to play rugby when you get that support behind you,” he said. “Feels like you’re playing with 16 or 17.”
Watch: MINI MATCH | All Blacks v Wales | Cardiff, 2026 (Nations Championship)
Wales made their chances count
Rennie pointed to poor starts in both halves and the speed of Wales’ ball at the breakdown. New Zealand struggled to slow it down, allowing Wales to find space out wide and finish clinically.
At the other end, Rennie felt the All Blacks became one-dimensional in the closing stages. At times they moved the ball away from an area where they had numbers. At others they kept carrying into traffic after drawing the Welsh defence in.
“That’s decision making under pressure, and they provided a lot of pressure tonight,” Rennie said.
He also pointed to the cost of first-half turnovers, saying he counted nine, four of them from offloads.
Rennie sees the offload as a point of difference for the All Blacks and wants his players to be sharper about when to use it and which pass to throw.
Rennie backs selection and calls for a response
Rennie said he had no regrets about the side he picked for Cardiff and believed the players on the field created enough chances to win. He mentioned the review would cover the coaches’ decisions as well, including the team’s preparation, selection and the timing of substitutions.
The All Blacks remain top of the Southern Hemisphere table, one point clear of South Africa, and can secure a place in the Grand Final with a bonus-point win over England. Rennie said he expected more from his side at Twickenham.
“Wales were passionate and every time they kept us out, I reckon they grew and became harder to break down,” he said. “We expect a lot more of ourselves and need to see a response at Twickenham next week.”
Watch: HIGHLIGHTS | All Blacks v Wales | Cardiff, 2026 (Nations Championship)
Final round permutations
The All Blacks lead the Nations Championship's Southern Hemisphere table despite losing to Wales in Cardiff.
Two bonus points took New Zealand to 22 points, one clear of South Africa after the Springboks lost to France.
England’s 78–15 win over Japan has moved them to 20 points, one behind France on the Northern Hemisphere table. Both sides will have a Grand Final place on the line when England host the All Blacks at Twickenham next weekend.
Round Five still has two matches to play, with Ireland hosting Fiji and Scotland facing Australia at Murrayfield tomorrow morning (NZT). At the time of writing Ireland were leading Jiji 22-15 after 50 minutes of play.
A bonus-point win over England next weekend guarantees the All Blacks a place in the Grand Final. A four-point win takes them to 26 points and is enough unless South Africa take five points against Ireland. That would leave both sides on 26 points with five wins apiece, bringing points difference into play. The Springboks currently lead on that measure by 72.
A draw is enough for New Zealand if South Africa also draw or lose. If the All Blacks lose, they can still finish first if they take more competition points from their match than the Springboks do, take the same number, or take one fewer and win the tiebreak.
The Southern runner-up will face the Northern runner-up on Finals Weekend.
France can clinch first place in the North with a bonus-point win over Argentina. A four-point win takes them to 25, which England can match with a bonus-point win over New Zealand and Ireland can match with bonus-point wins over Fiji and South Africa.
Any teams tied on 25 points would have five wins apiece, so points difference would decide the order unless that too is level. England currently lead France by 54 on that measure.
Scotland can still reach 21 points with bonus-point wins over Australia and Japan, but would need France to lose without a bonus point, England and Ireland to finish on 21 or fewer points, and a major swing in points difference.
Wales can reach 20 points by beating Australia with a bonus point and remain mathematically in contention for second.
Argentina sit third in the South on 11 points, but any Australian win at Murrayfield would take the Wallabies above them.
Australia can reach 18 with two bonus-point wins, while Argentina can reach 16 against France. Japan can now reach a maximum of 10 against Scotland, leaving fourth as their highest possible finish.
Fiji can also reach 10 with bonus-point wins over Ireland and Italy.
The Italians are locked into sixth in the North and will face Australia, Japan or Fiji on Finals Weekend.
All Blacks Post Match Press Conference Transcript
Dave, your thoughts on what just unfolded?
“Oh, massively disappointed. We started both halves poorly. Conceded 14 points quickly. Yeah, just thought we were a little bit disconnected. In the end we had plenty of possession. Plenty of territory and plenty of opportunity to I suppose squeeze them up to pick them off and, yeah so, need to be a lot better than that. But yeah, give credit to Wales. You know, they were really clinical when they got their chances and then they defended for massive amounts of periods and they were a better side tonight.”
Was it an attack issue not being able to find a way through in the last 25 minutes or so?
“Yeah, I mean we created opportunities. I just thought we got a bit one-dimensional. There's times where maybe we could have just stayed on one side of the field, and played through them where we had good numbers and we'd play away from that, or you know, like I said, we got a bit one-dimensional. So we’d try and carry through them when we've actually squeezed them up and now it's our chance to pick them off. So you know, that's decision making under pressure, and they provided a lot of pressure tonight.”
Beauden, how much does this one hurt?
“Yeah, it's a tough one to take, particularly when we were building a lot of pressure and we just couldn't convert that into points, numerous times we were held up, and just felt like we needed one of those to get right back in the game and level the scoreboard and the whole game would have changed. So yeah, frustrating, felt like a brick wall at times. So you have to give them credit. You give them opportunities for the crowd to come into the game. We're well aware of that when we come here. That's why it's one of the best places to play rugby when you get that support behind you. Feels like you're playing with 16 or 17.”
What was your messaging as the game went on and you couldn't get through that wall as you described?
“Yeah, it was just finding that connection. Coming up with solutions, being really assertive around what those are. It was about doing the obvious. We were a little bit indecisive or hesitant in our own half, which allowed them to score, you know, easy tries in that first half. And we found in that first half when we got down there it was reasonably straightforward, but that didn't happen in the second half. Like I say, three held ups. We've got to be better at converting those.”
Dave, defensively have you pinpointed in the first half what allowed Wales to kind of get on top of you?
“Oh, look, a big part of it was the speed of the ball. So, you know, they ran hard onto the ball and then they were able to generate lightning quick ball and we struggled to slow it down. They were able to find a little bit of space on the edge and then they were clinical. So yeah, look, I think their ability to convert points in the finish zone was excellent to them.”
Attack wise, in the first half, a lot of offloads, a lot of like half breaks that maybe you couldn’t take opportunity of, have you pinpointed why or was it just forcing it, or seeing the opportunity?
“Yeah, it's decision making. Yeah, look, I think we turned the ball over nine times in the first half, four of them were from offloads. So a point of difference for us. But it's about the quality of decision, sighting the target and then using the appropriate pass. And so I thought maybe the quality of our decision making wasn't sharp enough.”
Do you feel your decision making around timing of substitutions was correct?
“Oh, man, it's always a guess. You get a feel around things and you know, you look at someone like we put Leicester on, but you know, Wallace was going great guns. Uh, he'd had a big shift, so we decided to put Leicester on for him. And, yeah, look, we'll look at everything. Cause when you lose, it's not just on the players; it's everything around, how did we prepare the team this week, and, you know, selection, and then our decision making around substitutions coming on. So yeah, we'll look at all of that.”
Do you feel like you got out-coached tonight?
“We certainly got out-passioned. Yeah, well, you can put it however you like. I've already mentioned Steve Tandy's an excellent coach. Danny Wilson here and Pete Murchie who I coached with last year. I thought they had you know, obviously Pete being the defense coach, it was a hell of a defensive effort. So yep, yeah, we got out pointed in a lot of areas tonight.”
Dave, it's hard in the media aftermath, but how much of a setback does it feel like right now after you’ve built a bit of momentum and confidence in your game on the back of what happened in South Africa, and the Wallabies and Scotland?
“Yeah look, we’ll assess, yeah it hurts, but you’ve got to take it on the chin, we weren't good enough tonight, Wales were passionate and every time they kept us out, I reckon they grew and became harder to break down. So yeah, we've got to be better. We expect a lot more of ourselves and need to see a response at Twickenham next week.”
Dave, you left a lot of your first choice side out after last week, are there any regrets about that?
“No, we had a good enough side on the field tonight to win and I think if you look at the stats, we had plenty of opportunity. So those guys created a lot of chances. We just weren't clinical enough and they were very good defensively. So no, I have no regret around the side that we picked. As I've talked about previously, there's really good competition for places. There's not a lot between certain positions and the expectation is whoever wears the jersey bars up in front. But yeah, as I said before, when you underperform, it's not just about the players. We'll have a look at everything we did.”
Got an injury update? Jamie Hannah didn't look good.
Yeah, an AC by looks of it. Yeah, I we’ll know a little bit more, but he has his arm in a sling at the moment.
How do you assess Richie Ma'onga's return?
Yeah, look, I’ll have a decent look at it. We were under a fair bit of pressure and he was forced to run a fair bit. Yeah, look, it's a tough day for a lot of people today.
