Sam Warburton’s side will get a third and final chance to beat the world champions in Dunedin this weekend and hooker Ken Owens says the players know what needs to be done to try to end the 63-year wait for a win over New Zealand.
“We’ve prepared well this week and we’ve played some good stuff in the opening two Tests. Now we’ve got another opportunity to have a good go at them and we need to tidy up our errors of the last two weeks,” said Owens.
“The errors are a mark of a little bit of fatigue and it is important to keep the concentration both individually and as a collective. We need to keep up the talk on the field, especially when we are under a bit of pressure – that’s key to helping us cut out those errors when we are under pressure.”
The All Blacks scored 21 unanswered points in the final 15 minutes in the first Test in Auckland and then hit Wales with four second half tries in Wellington after changing ends at 10-10. Wales have made three changes to their matchday 23, while the All Blacks have made 11.
“There were changes for the All Blacks in the first Test with players retiring, but everyone in New Zealand rugby tends to step up to the plate when they get the opportunity. There is a little bit of inexperience there, but for those players to win their first caps and shine this is a great opportunity,” said Owens.
“The games have been pretty close up to 50 minutes, but their bench has done a pretty good job in bringing some impact. Our subs did a good job for us last weekend and we scored two good tries at the end – Test rugby is an 80 minute job these days and the impact off the bench is key.
“We came to New Zealand with an expectation of winning out here. We have put in a lot of hard work over the last few years, we are a confident side and we have picked up some good championship wins.
“We want to succeed and make history as a Welsh side, we don’t want to come here and be valiant losers. We have come here to do a job and get results.
“We haven’t done that in the first two games and we are bitterly disappointed at that. We have one more chance on Saturday and, hopefully, we can finish on a high.”
