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

All Blacks: 1. Tamaiti Williams, 2. Samisoni Taukei'aho, 3. Pasilio Tosi, 4. Scott Barrett, 5. Fabian Holland, 6. Simon Parker, 7. Du'Plessis Kirifi, 8. Wallace Sititi, 9. Cortez Ratima, 10. Damian McKenzie, 11. Caleb Clarke, 12. Anton Lienert-Brown, 13. Rieko Ioane, 14. Will Jordan, 15. Ruben Love

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,

If it is easy to be negative, then it is even more difficult to be positive about a team losing for the 34th consecutive time against the same opposition.

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

While the scoreline was ultimately comfortable, the home side was more than up for the challenge for long periods of the game.