New Zealand have beaten Wales 52-26 in Cardiff despite a heroic hat-trick performance from Scarlets winger Tom Rogers.

The All Blacks finished their season with another late flourish to ease their burden but victory over Wales won’t be enough to drastically alter the comple

The 52-26 win for the All Blacks against Wales was anticipated. The reaction in New Zealand if Wales had upset every prediction and won doesn’t bear thinking about. What’s tough is trying to work out exactly what the victory means.

Cardiff in 1978 hosted what was as close to a World Cup final as the time allowed. The All Blacks had defeated the British & Irish Lions the previous year and Wales were Grand Slam champions.

Back in 2003 Wales faced the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup in Sydney where Steve Hansen’s side were similarly written off by all and sundry. They didn’t win but a side inspired by the legendary Shane Williams sparked life back into Welsh rugby and laid the foundations for the 2005 Six Nations Grand Slam.

New Zealand coach Scott Robertson heaped praise on a reshuffled All Blacks side that rode out a Welsh storm to emerge dominant 52-26 victors in Cardiff on Saturday. New Zealand saw their Grand Slam scuppered with a 33-19 loss to England last week,

Deaves' inclusion means Tandy has instigated another back-row reshuffle with Aaron Wainwright switching back to number eight to replace hamstring victim Cracknell, who was player-of-the-match in his first Test start against Japan. Alex Mann reverts to his more familiar blind-side role to allow Deaves to slot in at open-side flanker.

14 Louis Rees-Zammit: Crucially won the aerial contest that led to Rogers’ first crossing on 10 minutes and was solid in that department throughout. Threw in the odd powerful carry too, but was largely stifled in terms of finding the wide open spaces to motor. That was until his diving finish late on got the Welsh crowd off their feet. 7

The victory doesn’t address issues exposed by England, as Wales’ defence lacked the calibre of top teams. A gold-standard scoreline from a slow but effective surgical dissection of Wales gave the All Blacks the glossy finish to their season,