THE wait goes on, and so does the hurt, the angst and the frustration. Still Wales must delay the anointment of the next Ken Jones, still they look for the man who will end this horribly enduring torment. This was far from the most convincing of New Zealand's 21 straight victories in the fixture, a run that spans some 56 years, but for Wales it will be all the more hard to take because of that very fact.
The All Blacks were at the very top of their game for about 20 minutes, the second-half spell in which they won it. Wales were good, just not good enough, to take advantage of this fall-off. They only took charge in the final 10 minutes, by which time their backs were not just against the wall, but edging into the River Taff. A rollocking late burst from Alun-Wyn Jones sparked thoughts of a fairytale ending but in the end we were left with the same, old familiar story.
There was a good deal of hot air floating around the Millennium stadium even before they closed the roof. Between the New Zealand media's faux indignation at Warren Gatland's "aura" remark (a bout of frothing that conveniently side-stepped the fact it was them who had steered him in that direction), and Welsh paranoia about Dan Carter (if the All Blacks were looking to deceive, surely they would have said that he wasn't going to make it), the lead-in to this game was pure pantomime.
Gatland, the great circus master in so many ways, can be excused, because his apparent stoking of the flames worked to perfection. On a quieter week, how much more attention would have been given over to the severely weakened nature of his line-up. It would never do to class as threadbare a side that has Ryan Jones at the base of the scrum, Jamie Roberts in midfield and the ever perceptive James Hook at the back, but the collective absence of Adam Jones, Mike Phillips and Lee Byrne was a grievous blow.
What Wales couldn't afford to give up was control of the breakdown, the area where, by their own admission, last year's shot at glory fizzled out. Gatland will have been encouraged by the early penalties his side forced in contact, New Zealand's tendency to go off their feet immediately checked by South African referee Craig Joubert. Richie McCaw was pulled up for playing the ball on the ground after the ruck had formed, and Stephen Jones stepped up to slot over from out on the right.
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New Zealand had gone in front with their first attack. A beautiful dink from Carter wrong-footed the Wales defence and wing Leigh Halfpenny was pinged for holding on as he strove to get the ball away from the danger zone. While some of the fly-half's decision-making and execution were as rusty as you would expect from one who has spent so long out injured this year, much of what Carter did was heavenly. His ability to create and relieve pressure is still unparalleled, even on one and a half legs. The Crusader's brilliantly improvised grubber right in front of the Wales posts had New Zealand hammering at the line, only for a knock-on to deny them. With Tom Shanklin having strayed offside, Carter did get the chance to land a second penalty, but it was paltry consolation.
It wasn't quite happening for Wales. There were tantalising glimpses of Roberts' majestic running power through the middle, the odd outbreak of that trademark offloading game, but New Zealand began to dominate at the breakdown, hitting it harder, earlier and with greater conviction.
Gatland's side did, however, hang tough. Their scrum gradually got on top and when the All Blacks tighthead Neemia Tialata was caught spreadeagling himself over the Welsh side of a ruck, Jones regained parity going into half-time.
The crowd seemed to get into it more in the third quarter. There were, initially, fewer immediate signs of impending doom this time, even if New Zealand did nudge themselves back ahead with another Carter penalty. Wales clicked up a gear at the breakdown, and space started to materialise for those stellar midfield bolters. On one occasion, quick ball was whipped left to Roberts but the Cardiff man spoiled things by holding on and was penalised.
That was the difference. Wales always seemed on the brink of something, New Zealand pushed the thing right through. Andrew Hore's try, approaching the hour mark, was a classic example. Having worked the ball from right side to left, New Zealand battered through a series of rucks with a relentless forward march, leaving their hooker to pick up and score. Carter's conversion was a beauty.
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Conrad Smith, the outside centre, thought he had another shortly after, but the video referee couldn't see through a thicket of bodies whether or not he had got it down. After New Zealand drove hard at the subsequent five-metre scrum, Kieran Reid broke off to cross once more, but again, the television match official wasn't convinced to validate the score.
That the All Blacks came away with a mere three points from this sequence, a desperate Welsh hand being spotted in a ruck, owed more to luck than judgment for Gatland's side. They narrowed the deficit to seven points with two long-range penalties from Jones, while the first sighting of a fully charged Shane Williams conjured one last blast of hope, but, as ever, New Zealand's cover tackling and alignment was sound. Compelling though Wales' finish was, New Zealand had them, and the game, in their grasp and they weren't for letting go of either.
Star man: Dan Carter (New Zealand)
Scorers: Wales: Pens: S Jones (4) New Zealand: Try: Hore 55 Con: Carter Pens: Carter (3)
Referee: C Joubert (South Africa) Attendance: 74,500
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Wales: J Hook, L Halfpenny, T Shanklin, J Roberts, S Williams; S Jones, G Cooper (M Roberts 55min); G Jenkins, M Rees (H Bennett 59min), P James (D Jones 59min), AW Jones, L Charteris, A Powell, M Williams, R Jones
New Zealand: M Muliaina, C Jane, C Smith, M Nonu, Z Guilford; D Carter, B Leonard (J Cowan 50min), W Crockett, A Hore, N Tialata, B Thorn, J Eaton, J Kaino, R McCaw, K Reid (A Thomson 66min)