Wales coach Warren Gatland said his side had to believe in their ability if they were to end decades’ worth of defeats by New Zealand later this year.
Gatland’s men finished the Six Nations as runners-up behind champions England after a 67-14 thrashing of wooden spoons Italy in Cardiff on Saturday.
Wales ran in nine tries at the Principality Stadium for what was their largest margin of victory in the Six Nations, with the 53-point gap topping the 48 points they put between themselves and Scotland in a 51-3 home win in 2014 when Scottish full-back Stuart Hogg was sent off.
Photo: EPA
Far sterner challenges are to await Gatland when the native New Zealander returns home for Wales’ three-Test series against the world champions in June.
Wales’ last victory over New Zealand was in 1953, and the All Blacks have won all subsequent 26 Tests between the two sides.
It would be a major shock if Wales stopped that run this year, even though the likes of World Cup-winning captain Richie McCaw and star flyhalf Dan Carter have both retired from Test duty.
“I don’t think you would ever underestimate New Zealand with the quality of players they’ve got,” said Gatland, whose team is to warm-up for their trip with a Twickenham encounter against England on May 29.
“With any team, you have got to go and believe in your own ability,” he added.
Gatland took heart from the way Wales performed against Australia and South Africa at last year’s World Cup in England.
Although both games ended in Welsh defeats, the Wallabies did not manage a try in their pool encounter, while the Springboks only triumphed 23-19 in a gripping quarter-final thanks to scrumhalf Fourie du Preez’s try in the closing stages.
“Everyone talks about southern hemisphere [teams] moving the ball wide and the points and tries they score. Well, the last two southern hemisphere teams we’ve played, Australia never scored a try against us and South Africa scored one in the last four minutes,” Gatland said.
“We have got to go down there [New Zealand] believing that on our day and, if things go right, that we are good enough to win,” he added.
Saturday’s hammering of Italy saw Wales throw off the shackles just a week after a 25-21 loss to England at Twickenham helped end their title hopes.
“We have spoken about trying to change our game in this competition, and it doesn’t happen overnight,” Gatland said.
“We haven’t quite clicked during this campaign, but there are times when we have clicked — the last part of the second half against England, and today [Saturday], and in parts of other games where we have started to show something that looks like it is a game we can develop,” he said.
George North was among Wales’ eight try-scorers — replacement forward Ross Moriarty crossed twice — against Italy.
In the process, North became only the second Wales player after fellow wing Shane Williams in 2008 to score tries in four successive Six Nations internationals.
“George has started to play in this campaign with a smile on his face and with real confidence,” said Gatland, who added that flanker Justin Tipuric had been hospitalized with a head injury after falling at an early line-out on Saturday.
For Italy, defeat in French coach Jacques Brunel’s final game in charge completed a miserable Six Nations where they lost all five matches and conceded 29 tries.
“I think there is not just one cause, but many,” Brunel said. “We made mistakes we could have avoided ... but we faced a very strong Welsh side. We were expecting a tough match and it certainly was.”
Wales finished second in the Six Nations with three wins, while Ireland finished third with two wins after their 35-25 defeat of Scotland on Saturday.
Scotland and France also had two wins, but placed fourth and fifth respectively with inferior point differentials, while Italy had no wins.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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