All Blacks veterans finish with bronze after win over Wales
- The Kiwis dominated for most of the game, sending off a number of veterans with a conciliatory win
- Six days after their shocking loss to England, the team thumped a tired looking Welsh side
Ben Smith scored two vintage tries before halftime, Keiran Read did a power of work and Sonny Bill Williams produced a pair of trademark offloads as three veteran All Blacks went into retirement with a bronze medal to add to their previous Rugby World Cup titles.
Six days after a semi-final loss to England ended New Zealand’s bid for a third straight world championship, the All Blacks beat Wales 40-17 on Friday in the third-place playoff. No surprises there. The All Blacks hadn’t lost back-to-back tests since 2011, and their last lost to Wales was 66 years ago. A new champion will be determined Saturday in Yokohama when South Africa and England meet in a rematch of the 2007 final, which the Springboks won 15-6.
On a cool night at Tokyo Stadium, Smith, Read and Williams took cameos to cap their long careers. It was also the last match in charge for both head coaches, with Steve Hansen ending a long tenure at the All Blacks to move to Japan and Warren Gatland returning to New Zealand to coach a Super Rugby club after 12 years with Wales.
The swathe of retirements added some lustre to a match that usually is one that neither team wants to play, but also one that neither team wants to lose.
New Zealand opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Joe Moody strode 20 meters before sliding over for a rare front-rower’s try. It was set up by an offload from Read to Brodie Retallick, who made good ground before delivering a clever, backhanded flick pass to his prop.
Fullback Beauden Barrett combined with Aaron Smith to score and make it 14-0 after 14 minutes. But Wales responded with some enterprising rugby, a contrast to the grinding performance the Six Nations champions delivered in the 19-16 semi-final loss to South Africa last weekend.
