Wales assistant coach Robin McBryde said yesterday that the lack of pressure going into the bronze medal game could lead to a more positive playing style.
According to Opta Stats, Wales achieved just 182 metres from 114 carries for a 1.6metre average in their semifinal defeat, the lowest any side has ever recorded in a Rugby World Cup fixture.
"There is no pressure on either side so hopefully we can play with freedom and having nothing to lose allows you to do that.
"New Zealand will also be a very dangerous team because of that but we just have to enter into the spirit of the occasion, go out there and make it a great game," he added.
Wales were denied a spot in their first ever final after losing 19-16 to South Africa on Sunday. Friday's clash in Tokyo will be their third bronze medal game, having won the 1987 third-fourth playoff against Australia.
It will be their first clash against the All Blacks at a World Cup since 2003.
"I'm glad the bronze medal match is against the All Blacks. I don't think it would be the same if we were facing somebody else because the All Blacks are the All Blacks, in fairness to them," McBryde said.
1953 - The last time Wales beat New Zealand
- National's Sidney Holland was the New Zealand prime minister after winning his second term in 1951.
- Phone numbers in New Zealand only had five digits.
- Construction began on the Auckland motorway network.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower succeeded Harry S. Truman as the 34th President of the United States.
- New Zealand's population was estimated at 2,074,700.
- Four days after the Welsh win the newly crowned Elizabeth II arrived for a royal tour in New Zealand. The Queen remained in the country until 30 January 1954 and an estimated that three in four New Zealanders would make an effort to see her during the tour.
A day after her arrival, on Christmas Eve, the Tangiwai rail disaster killed 151 when the the Wellington-Auckland night express train plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River.
- According to nzhistory.co.nz, in 1953 Kiwis chewed their way through 107 kg of meat for every man, woman and child. Of the 335 kg of fruit and veg consumed per person, 94 kg was potatoes, 'cabbage and greens' and carrots. Kiwis ate only 5 kg of fresh fish and 3 kg of poultry per person.
- Earlier in the year, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the top of Everest.
- A flight to London via Sydney typically took between three and five days.
- The Ford Anglia 100E and the Holden FJ were released.
- Ian Fleming published his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.
- From Here to Eternity, featuring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr and Frank Sinatra was released in August and won the Oscar for best picture the previous year.
- The first colour television sets went on sale for about US$1,175.
