Wales have been warned the All Blacks aim to crush them early in Saturday’s final Test in Dunedin.
The message has been delivered by New Zealand captain Kieran Read, who says his team will aim to dominate the tourists far earlier than they managed in the first two Tests.
Wales led 18-15 at half-time in the opening match and were locked at 10-10 at the break a week ago, before losing both matches by comfortable margins.
The All Blacks don’t plan to hang around so long next time with Read promising: “We’ve got to try to get on top of them a bit quicker than we perhaps have done in the last couple of games.
“Wales have been really strong and physical so we’ll get the same. They will back themselves as well, they’ve certainly done that.
“You can’t expect to go out and dominate a team right from the word go. These games are tough, the Welsh make you work for it, so it takes sometimes 45-50 minutes and other times it takes 70 minutes.”
The All Blacks have scored five tries in each of their two tests, but when asked if he would like to see a few more at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Read said: “We’re not worried about tries, we’re worried about putting in a performance which will be physically demanding on the Welsh. Certainly we’ve shown that when we have got it right in the second half it’s paid dividends.”
An area of potential improvement for the All Blacks against Wales as they seek to put what Read described as “an exclamation mark on the series”, is their start.
New Zealand won the first match at Auckland 39-21 and the second at Wellington 36-22. But the All Blacks left it late to assert their superiority in both games.
Wales led until the 62nd minute of the first Test before conceding three late tries and went to half-time level with New Zealand in the second Test before letting in three tries midway through the second spell.
“It’s all about staying in the match,” Wales coach Warren Gatland said. “In both games to date we have seemed to switch off for five or 10 minutes and that has been hugely costly for us.
“The players have been hard on themselves and been pretty honest in identifying where we let ourselves down with mistakes.”
Saturday’s match will end a year-long season for Wales. The team came together as a squad on July 15 last year to prepare for the Rugby World Cup and have stayed together through that tournament, the Six Nations and the current tour.
While weary, the team was eager to record Wales’ first victory over New Zealand since 1953.
“We have to make sure we are accurate all game,” Gatland said. “The attitude in training has been excellent and we’ve freshened them up for one final assault on the All Blacks after a long season.”