All Blacks fail to impress British press

CARDIFF - The All Blacks failed to impress British rugby writers, who identified Dan Carter and Welsh bumbling as the difference between the sides when New Zealand won 19-12 at Millennium Stadium yesterday.

In the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Steve James felt the tourists hardly set the world on fire.

"The sadness for Wales will be that this was only a workmanlike performance from the All Blacks. They were stunningly unspectacular, if that makes sense. They just did enough," James wrote.

"Dan Carter kicked his goals and out of hand expertly and Richie McCaw and co dominated the breakdown sufficiently, but for too much of the match Wales were disappointingly hesitant and subdued."

Former international Eddie Butler, in The Guardian, hailed Carter's contribution as the difference, despite his much-discussed head-high tackle on Martin Roberts late in the match which saw him booed from the field by a capacity crowd.

"(Carter) certainly showed no sign of the calf injury that had persuaded some in Wales that he would not be fit to play.

"He played sublimely, but it was perhaps a new experience for him to be jeered. The rest of the day was the same old story."

In the Sunday Times, Mark Palmer wrote Wales' inability to finish, rather than the All Blacks' excellence, was the key factor.

"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."

- NZPA