New Zealand marked Richie McCaw’s 100th Test as captain with a 34-16 victory over Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.
It was the world champions’ 26th consecutive victory over the Welsh, who led 13-10 with 17 minutes left at the Millennium Stadium.
However, the All Blacks piled up 24 points in the final 17 minutes against a flagging Welsh side.
Photo: AFP
New Zealand scored five tries in the second half, Julian Savea, Jerome Kaino, Barrett (2) and Kieran Read all crossing the whitewash.
“You’ve got to keep believing,” McCaw told the BBC. “It wasn’t as if we were under the pump.”
“It was important to finish off the year with a performance that we can sit back for a month and be proud of,” the flanker added, shortly before New Zealand lock Brodie Retallick was named the World Rugby Player of the Year.
In Dublin, flyhalf Jonathan Sexton scored 16 points as Ireland edged Australia 26-23 in a thrilling clash. The Wallabies had stormed back from going 17-0 down within the first 20 minutes as two tries by Nick Phipps and one from Bernard Foley got them back into it after Irish wings Simon Zebo and Tommy Bowe had crossed the Australia line in the opening 15 minutes.
“It was a terrific end to the campaign — to win against two southern hemisphere teams [South Africa and Australia] is great for morale,” Ireland captain Paul O’Connell said.
This was the Australia’s second straight loss under new coach Michael Cheika following last week’s equally narrow 29-26 defeat by France.
However, Australia skipper Michael Hooper insisted the Wallabies, who face a tour finale against World Cup pool rivals England at Twickenham next weekend, were on the rise.
“If you look at last week to this week we’re definitely improving,” Hooper said.
England ended a run of five straight defeats — all by New Zealand and South Africa — with a 28-9 win over Samoa at Twickenham.
George Ford impressed on his first Test start, with the Bath flyhalf kicking five out of seven attempts for a haul of 13 points in this night kick-off match and setting up two of England’s three tries.
“It feels good to get a win and it has been a long time,” England coach Stuart Lancaster said.
South Africa backed up last week’s three-point win over England with a scrappy 22-6 win against Italy in Padua, featuring tries from Coenie Oosthuizen, Cobus Reinach and Bryan Habana.
However, the match itself was overshadowed by the announcement after the final whistle that Springbok lock Bakkies Botha, who watched from the stands, was retiring from international rugby after an 85-cap career that included helping South Africa win the 2007 World Cup.
“I considered all my options and realized that with the talent coming through at lock in South Africa, the time has come for me to call time on my Springbok career,” said 35-year-old Botha, who plans to continue playing rugby for French and European champions Toulon.
Scotland scored five tries as they settled a two-year-old score with Tonga by beating the Pacific Islanders 37-12 at Kilmarnock Football Club’s Rugby Park home ground.
In the first international match involving a Tier One nation played on an artificial surface, Scotland avenged the 21-15 defeat they suffered against the Tongans in Aderdeen in November 2012, a match that turned out to be Andy Robinson’s last as Scotland coach.
Victory saw Scotland complete a satisfactory first home series under Kiwi coach Vern Cotter, having beaten Argentina 41-31 and pushed New Zealand hard before losing 24-16.
“The guys ground out a tough win and it wasn’t easy,” Cotter told the BBC after Blair Cowan, Stuart Hogg, Alex Dunbar, Geoff Cross and Tommy Seymour all scored tries for the Scots.
“I think the game two years ago is like a monkey off our back and we can move forward,” he said.
In Saturday’s concluding international, Argentina produced a tactical masterclass to beat France 18-13 at the Stade de France in Paris.
The Pumas scored four drop goals and dominated the majority of a turgid contest to end their tour on a high.
France came within inches of snatching a potentially match-winning try deep into added time, but South African-born fullback Scott Spedding was held up over the line.
It was Argentina’s first win in France since the 2007 World Cup and was achieved thanks to the kicking of flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez and inside center Juan Martin Hernandez.
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