New Zealand coach Chris Boyd was suitably grateful to Wales and was planning an appropriate gift after the young Dragons pulled off an upset win over France to ease the home side's path into the Junior World Championship semifinals.
"We'd offered the Fijians 100 litres of kava if they denied Ireland the four tries, so I guess we'll have to send down something to the Welsh, maybe a nice keg of their favourite tipple," said a relieved Boyd after New Zealand had beaten Scotland to become the fourth qualifier in the pool section.
Wales' 13-3 victory in the Albany rain was the ideal result for New Zealand, as neither side picked up a bonus point, momentarily placing Australia in the unlikely pole position. By kickoff, New Zealand knew they had to beat Scotland by five points and secure the bonus point.
Many of the New Zealand team were getting updates from the Wales-France clash on the bus to Pukekohe.
"With the Welsh, I suppose you'd say upsetting the French, that allowed us to come back. We'd lost control of our destiny up to that point, and the Welsh gave it back to us and we took advantage of that," said Boyd.