Lee Byrne has urged Wales to shed their "nearly-men" tag after losing to New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
Wales full-back demands more while Haka response causes a stir
Lee Byrne has urged Wales to shed their "nearly-men" tag after suffering another frustrating Millennium Stadium failure against a Tri-Nations heavyweight.
Wales' 29-9 loss to New Zealand was their 20th successive defeat at the hands of world rugby's most ruthless team.
In 33 Tests against southern hemisphere super-powers South Africa, Australia and the All Blacks during the 13-year professional era, Wales can reflect on just two victories - over South Africa (1999) and Australia (2005).
The Wallabies are next up in six days' time, when Wales must repeat their achievement of three years ago to salvage an autumn series that promised so much.
The reigning RBS 6 Nations champions looked capable of delivering for 40 minutes, leading New Zealand 9-6 through three Stephen Jones penalties at the break - but then the All Blacks stirred, posting 23 unanswered points.
Wales still haven't beaten them since 1953, and full-back star Byrne is growing fed up of the history lessons.
"Playing quite well is not good enough - we can't be the nearly men all the time," he said.
"I am not happy when the team loses. I thought we were the better side in the first half, but they were more clinical than us after that.
"That was probably the best 40 minutes they've faced on this tour, and we will take away something from that, but it is still not good enough - we want to be an 80-minute team.
"Rugby is about playing for 80 minutes, and we are not there at the moment."
Haka response
Unlike against South Africa a fortnight earlier, Wales started like men possessed after setting the tone by staging a memorable stand-off to New Zealand's traditional Haka.
As the All Blacks completed their famous pre-match routine and waited for Wales to disperse for kick-off, so skipper Ryan Jones and his team remained in a defiant line 10 metres away, staring down their illustrious opponents.
The crowd went wild, with captain Richie McCaw leading a similarly steely-eyed response by New Zealand. It was pure theatre, even if referee Jonathan Kaplan did not quite know where to look.
And prop Gethin Jenkins claimed an unnamed player plotted Wales' memorable response to the New Zealand Haka that brought a Millennium Stadium full house to its feet.
"We talked a bit about the Haka on Friday," said Wales prop Jenkins.
"We respect their tradition, but it is our pitch and we wanted to stand our ground.
"The way the crowd responded was great. It was hard to keep a straight face, but it inspired us and had the desired effect.
"It was one of the player's ideas - I am not going to say who - and everyone was behind it.
"We said we weren't going to move until the referee split us up. There was nothing malicious, it was our home game and that's what we decided to do."
It certainly worked, as Wales dominated the early stages in their quest for a first victory over New Zealand since 1953.
Byrne added: "It really got us going - we came out all guns blazing. It was something different, but it seemed to work."
Wales captain Ryan Jones even voiced his opinion on the stand-off.
"We wanted to show it was our stadium, our pitch and our fans, and we weren't prepared to give up the ground, which we showed in the opening exchanges of the game.
"We were confident going into the game. We had huge belief in the heart and the soul of this team and the individuals who wore the jersey."
Approval
Wales' reaction to the Haka gained approval from the All Blacks player, even if they were not familiar with such an audacious response.
"I thought it was very respectful - a great way to face the Haka," said All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu.
"The Wales boys stood proud and it set the mood for the start of the game. There was nothing given or taken."
And McCaw added: "It was a bit of gamesmanship. The referee was keen to get on with things and I was not sure if the game was going to get started to be honest.
"There was a stand-off, but there was a point where you had to get on with the game.
"There was a fair bit of feeling from both teams, and I thought it was good.
"It really showed that both teams wanted to play. The intensity of the start of the game showed that.
"Perhaps they got on top of us for a little early on."
