NEW ZEALAND
Mils Muliaina 7
Looked dangerous when he had a chance to run. Few frills. Steady day out.
Rico Gear 9.5
Outstanding finishing. Had some work to do with all three tries. Important spot tackle on Gareth Thomas. One of the best.
Conrad Smith 7
Copped a warning for holding
back a Welshman in their most threatening moment. His kick set up Gear's second try. Sound defence. Good.
Tana Umaga 6
Not one of his best. Lost the ball first two times he had it and badly beaten by Gareth Thomas one on one. Defensively tidy.
Joe Rokocoko 7
Always threatened. Ran over a defender a la a mini Jonah, but the best chances went right not left.
Daniel Carter 9.5
Kicked seven from seven, scored two tries. Overcooked a restart into touch, just proving nobody's perfect.
Byron Kelleher 6
Bustled about, a fine individual burst spoilt by greed when he had his skipper unmarked near the Welsh line. Blew a turnover by kicking out on full.
Rodney So'oialo 7 Decent workrate, plenty of defensive work. Rarely seen on the offensive. In other words, the usual report.
Chris Masoe 7
Toiled hard, showed up around the park. A couple of handling errors. Useful, but, with due respect, no McCaw.
Jerry Collins 8
Strong start. Prominent for much of the match, defensively and going forward, and won a couple of lineouts. Impressive.
Chris Jack 8
Top lineout performer, snaffled one ball for a turnover. Strong game.
James Ryan 7
Became more prominent in the second half, made one giant run which should have produced a try. Disruptive at lineouts, defensively good.
Carl Hayman 7
A couple of strong runs with the ball, anchored an impressive scrum against the better of the two hairy Welsh props.
Anton Oliver 7
Good return. One dodgy lineout throw, muscular scrum effort and showed up round the park.
Neemia Tialata 7
All over the dark-haired hairy Jones at the scrum. Couple of decent runs. Did all that could have been expected.
Reserves
Tony Woodcock (for Tialata 51min)
Incurred referee's displeasure twice. Scrum did not suffer for his arrival.
Andrew Hore (for Oliver 65m)
Steady.
Angus Macdonald (for Ryan 65m)
Threw himself about energetically on debut.
Jimmy Cowan (for Kelleher 68m)
Lively.
Richie McCaw (for Masoe 68m)
Ditto.
Ma'a Nonu (for Gear 68m)
One fine break led to Gear's last try.
Leon MacDonald (for Muliaina 72m)
No time to make impact.
WALES
Gareth Thomas 7
One slashing break, and saved one certain try, injuring himself out of the match in the process. Beaten by Gear for his second try. Threatenend, but didn't see enough ball.
Kevin Morgan 5
Kevin Who? Rarely sighted going forward, had hands full keeping an eye on Jolting Joe going back.
Mark Taylor 6
Few chances for the veteran. No more than steady.
Ceri Sweeney 5
Defensively reasonable, not sighted going forward.
Shane Williams 5
Jinked about but made little progress. Lost turnover for crucial second Gear try.
Stephen Jones 6
Unable to orchestrate much against solid black defensive wall. Tidy kicking.
Mike Phillips 5
Tall, decent pass but ponderous. Wales badly missed the nippy injured Dwayne Peel.
Michael Owen 6
Became more prominent after quiet start. The odd decent run. Nothing to shout about.
Colin Charvis 5
All due respect, if he's a No 7 my dog's a cat. A couple of decent moments. Not involved enough.
Jonathan Thomas 5
Anonymous Thomas. He's got talent, but disappears too often.
Robert Sidoli 5
Honest toiler. Lineout caller in a poor lineout.
Brent Cockbain 3
Penalised for a punch on Umaga which was unlucky but costly. Did little round the park.
Adam Jones 3
The dark-haired one was in trouble at scrum time from the start. Lucky to last until the 45th minute.
Mefin Davies 4
Dreadful day with his lineout throwing. Tried hard around the park, not his day.
Duncan Jones 5
Hung on desperately against Hayman. Mobile. Not great, but at least gave it a decent lash.
Reserves
Chris Horsman (for Adam Jones 45m)
Began bristling with aggression. Unsighted after that.
Gareth Cooper (for Phillips 49m)
Improved things at halfback. Perky, tried to inject bit of enthusiasm.
Lee Byrne (for Gareth Thomas 56m)
A couple of nice touches.
Rhys Thomas (for Davies 61m)
Didn't show up.
Luke Charteris (for Cockbain 61m)
He did show up because he's over 2m tall.
Nicky Robinson (for Sweeney, 68m)
Anonymous.
Robin Sowden-Taylor (for Charvis 68m)
See above.
NEW ZEALAND
Mils Muliaina 7
Looked dangerous when he had a chance to run. Few frills. Steady day out.
Rico Gear 9.5
Outstanding finishing. Had some work to do with all three tries. Important spot tackle on Gareth Thomas. One of the best.
Conrad Smith 7
Copped a warning for holding
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