Warren Gatland proud of Wales despite losing New Zealand Test series

By Claire Corkery

Image: Wales coach Warren Gatland has said he is proud of his team despite the fact Wales lost again to New Zealand

Wales manager Warren Gatland has said he is proud of his side despite sustaining a 36-22 loss to New Zealand in Wellington on Saturday.

Wales were level 10-10 in the first half, however, the All Blacks added 26 unanswered points in the second period. Tries from Ben Smith, Beauden Barrett, Waisake Naholo and Ardie Savea assured an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series for New Zealand.

Gatland's team refused to throw in the towel and they struck back in the last few minutes with both Liam Williams and Jonathan Davies touching down to cut the final victory margin to 14 points.

The Welsh manager said he was proud of the way Wales fought to the last.

Highlights from Wellington as New Zealand took on Wales in the second Test of the series

"The courage to keep playing and not to give up is a huge tick," Gatland said.

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"We had 58 per cent territory and possession tonight and that's a massive number against the All Blacks - we've never done that before. I'm pretty proud about that performance. There were a couple of key moments which were the difference.

"We're creating chances and the players are already aware of a couple of things that next week they will do a little bit different because they've already learned from tonight.

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Highlights of New Zealand's 39-21 victory of Wales at Eden Park in the first Test of the series

"They are clinical and those are the small margins that we need to be better at. It's about freshening them up this week and having a real crack in Dunedin.

"We've learned a lot about ourselves this week. We'll be thinking that we can get better again next week.

"The big thing for us is continuing to compete against the best team in the world. We'll learn a huge amount from this series. They tried to create some tempo in the last 20 minutes, but we were the ones who kept playing."

Image: Sam Warburton of Wales says his team will never give up despite losing Test series

Skipper Sam Warburton said Wales' late rally proves his side's determined character.

The 27-year-old said: "We'll never give up. We want to try and throw the ball around a little bit.

"The people of New Zealand have been fantastic over the last week, saying they enjoy the way we play, and that's the way we've tried to play it - to throw the ball around and take some chances. But it didn't work out for us.

"New Zealand have proved why they're the best team in the world. They were extremely clinical, we made two or three mistakes that led to two or three tries again. That was a huge momentum swing."

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