ON THE eve of the visit of the All Blacks fly-half Dan Biggar declared Wales would need perfection if they were to topple the world champions.

For 67 minutes they weren't far off it, but then the runners going stride for stride with Mo Farah would have been pretty content with the first 9,500 metres at the 2012 Olympics.

With hindsight it's easy to say that the ending at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday evening was obvious but it was evident from the stands that the All Blacks were a bit rattled. The game was genuinely up for grabs.

The scoreline would make it easy to paint the world champions are nerveless assassins who stay calm knowing they will get the job done.

But they were in a bit of a pickle and there were plenty of relieved faces when Kieran Read's chargedown try secured the win with eight minutes left, meaning the current crop avoided the ignominy of becoming the first side to lose to Wales since 1953.

Prior to that they had been forced into errors by an aggressive Welsh effort in which captain Sam Warburton and centre Jamie Roberts stood out.

Sadly New Zealand regained their composure to produce a mistake-free finale, playing rugby in enemy territory and taking every opportunity that came their way.

Beauden Barrett try – Read try – Barrett try. Job done, get on the Steinlager to toast another successful year.

But what for Wales, who have one final shot for glory against South Africa on Saturday?

Warren Gatland always likes to play to the New Zealand media and managed to crowbar in a reference to Waikato overcoming their hoodoo against Auckland in 1992 after five years of trying.

But it's 22 successive defeats to the big three and it will hurt him that his fellow Kiwi Joe Schmidt has more scalps this autumn with Ireland than he has managed in seven years with Wales.

He needs to find a way of getting more out of the current players.

Wales need the Northampton version of George North, and could do with their winger watching the way that Julian Savea got himself involved in the game, and they need a fit Jonathan Davies similar to the one that cut South Africa to shreds in the opening moments of the 2013 Millennium Stadium defeat.

They need sidelined Scarlets hooker Ken Owens sharing the duties with Richard Hibbard, they need better propping options on the bench and a fit Luke Charteris.

Other than that it is hard to see where the extra can come from, unless there is a tactical shift.

That's unlikely to happen, even more so when the tightness of the defeats gives the management reason to believe that they can squeeze a little bit more from somewhere. We will probably hear talk of more brutal sessions or they will find some magical Transylvanian training camp.

There are positives – Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar have established themselves as first-choice half-backs while tighthead Samson Lee and lock Jake Ball look the part on the Test scene – but the wait goes on.

The history books will be mean when marking this down as a 34-16, five tries to one romp for the All Blacks. It was a tremendous Test and Wales caused the world champions plenty of problems.

They were magnificent in defence, particularly in the closing stages of the first half when preventing New Zealand from muscling their way over the whitewash.

Many other teams would have folded and Warburton and his team deserved the ovation they received when running to their changing room.

It wasn't just blind faith that caused the crowd to scent an upset, their side showed aggression to force the All Blacks into an unusual amount of mistakes and oodles of spirit to get back up off the canvas.

Julian Savea's try at the start of the second half could have prompted a one-sided encounter but Rhys Webb dived over just minutes later and Jerome Kaino's score in the final quarter could have caused heads to drop but Leigh Halfpenny responded with a penalty to regain the lead.

But there was always the lingering fear that they didn't have the strength on the bench to finish the job once the starters had emptied their tanks.

It was 3-3 at the break after the defences ensured the only scores came from the boots of Halfpenny and Barrett.

Savea powered past Dan Biggar early in the second half but back came Wales with Webb finishing off after nimble footwork and a delightful offload by Taulupe Faletau.

Halfpenny converted and kicked for the lead in the 53rd minute but Kaino went over from a crosskick with quarter of an hour left seconds after Richie McCaw was dragged down inches shy of the line.

Barrett missed the conversion and Wales were 16-15 up with 13 minutes left when their full-back punished a McCaw breakdown indiscretion.

But then came the late charge – Barrett's perfect dink over the defence and gather, Read's charge down of Mike Phillips' box kick and Barrett's run-in from a cross-kick.

This current New Zealand vintage specialise in being cruel.

Wales: L Halfpenny, A Cuthbert, J Davies, J Roberts, G North (L Williams 65), D Biggar (J Hook 73), R Webb (M Phillips 56), P James (N Smith 73-76), R Hibbard (S Baldwin 61), S Lee (R Jones 73), J Ball (L Charteris 61), A W Jones, D Lydiate (J Tipuric 61), S Warburton (captain), T Faletau.

Scorers: try – R Webb; conversion – L Halfpenny; penalties – L Halfpenny (3)

New Zealand: B Smith, C Piutau (C Slade 55), C Smith, S Williams (R Crotty 70), J Savea, B Barrett, A Smith (T Perenara 72), W Crockett (J Moody 40), D Coles (K Mealamu 64), O Franks (C Faumuina 46), B Retallick, S Whitelock (P Tuipulotu 64), J Kaino (L Messam 64), R McCaw (captain), K Read.

Scorers: tries – J Savea, J Kaino, B Barrett (2), K Read; conversions – B Barrett, C Slade (2); penalty – B Barrett

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)