Wales clash with New Zealand in the November Rugby Internationals in Cardiff on Saturday, the final action of the year for the All Blacks and the pre-match handicap is a big number.
Wales v New Zealand, Saturday 22nd November, Cardiff, KO 17:10 (South African time)
Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
Assistant Referees: Andrea Piardi (FIR), Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
Weather Forecast - Cardiff (check to find out if the roof will be closed)
Wales:
Wales edged out Japan 24-23 in Cardiff last week, they were 12.5 point favourites on the main pre-match handicap line but they needed a penalty from Jarrod Evans with the last kick of the game to scramble a victory.
Steve Tandy took over as coach of Wales for their first action of the November series against Argentina in Cardiff and they crashed and burned 52-28, scoring tries but conceding 7.
In July Wales were in Japan where they lost the first test 24-19 before snapping an 18 match losing streak with a 31-22 victory in the second test.
Wales had a really poor 6 Nations earlier this year, finishing with the wooden spoon after losing all their matches, in France (43-0) and Italy (22-15), at home to Ireland 27-18) and in Scotland (35-29) before being thrashed by England in Cardiff (68-14).
In the November Internationals of 2024 Wales lost to Fiji (24-19), Australia (52-20) and South Africa (45-12).
After this Wales will finish their year against South Africa in the only international taking place next weekend.
New Zealand:
The All Blacks took on England at Twickenham last week. The hosts were marginal favourites in the betting markets but it was New Zealand who scored the first 12 points of the game before England fought back to claim a 33 -19 win. Fainga’anuku, Taylor and Jordan were the All Blacks try scorers but they conceded 4 tries and the boot of George Ford helped England to prevail.
A week earlier the All Blacks beat Scotland 25-17 at Murrayfiel, a margin of victory that was pretty much in line with the bookmakers main handicap line had settled. They were 17-0 up at half time but the Scots came back to level things up. New Zealand were a man down and certainly rode their luck before scoring the decisive try through Damian McKenzie (on 74 minutes) and the same player also landed an even later penalty.
New Zealand took on Ireland in Chicago before heading to Europe. They started as favourites at around 5.5 points on the main handicap line and conceded the first 10 points of the game before reducing the deficit to 10-7 at half time and completing the comeback in the second half to run out winners 26-13.
New Zealand won 4 and lost 2 of their Rugby Championship matches this year, finishing as runners up to the Springboks with both teams on 19 points.
In July New Zealand completed a 3-0 clean sweep of a visiting French team, winning the first test 31-27, the second 43-17 and the third 29-19.
In the November 2024 series the All Blacks beat England (24-22) at Twickenham and also got the better of Ireland (23-13) in Dublin. They lost a thriller in France (30-29) and finished off with a 29-11 victory in Italy.
Recent Head to Head
Nov 2022 INT Cardiff Wales 23-55 New Zealand
Oct 2021 INT Cardiff Wales 16-54 New Zealand
Team News
Wales: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Tom Rogers, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Adam Beard, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Rhys Carre.
Replacements: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Nick Tompkins
* Aaron Wainwright replaced by Taine Plumtree
New Zealand: 15 Ruben Love, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Wallace Sititi, 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6 Simon Parker, 5 Fabian Holland, 4 Scott Barrett (captain), 3 Pasilio Tosi, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1 Tamaiti Williams.
Replacements: 16 George Bell, 17 Fletcher Newell, 18 George Bower, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Christian Lio-Willie, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 23 Sevu Reece
The Betting
Average early show, subject to change
Wales +28.5 points at 9/10
New Zealand -28.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Brent Graham's betting angle and plays for this week’s internationals will be posted on this blog.
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.