Steve Tandy has encouraged his Wales side to celebrate their historic win over New Zealand in the Nations Championship.

Wales defeated New Zealand for the first time in 73 years after prevailing 35-28 at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.

Tomos Williams and Dewi Lake both scored tries inside the opening six minutes for the hosts, with Archie Griffin also crossing the line after Cortez Ratima pulled one back for New Zealand.

Eddie James and Louis Rees-Zammit scored after the break, and that proved enough for Wales to see through a famous victory.

Wales had lost each of their previous 34 matches against the All Blacks since 1953, and Tandy believes his side deserve to enjoy their win.

"The effort that the players and staff have put in over the last 15 months or so, they got what they deserved today. It was an unbelievable performance from the boys," Tandy told S4C.

1953 - @WelshRugbyUnion have beaten New Zealand for the first time since 1953, ending a run of 34 consecutive defeats against the All Blacks. History. https://t.co/gQ6oPNGclB

— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) November 14, 2026

"We spoke about attacking, building the performance and being brave, and I thought the boys were probably over-brave before half-time, but they had intent to go after the game.

"And in fairness, when New Zealand were coming back at half-time, it would be easy to doubt yourselves, but I thought the way the boys attacked it, the bench coming on as well, and in the last couple of minutes, I thought they looked really composed in fairness to the group.

"The boys have created history; they've got to celebrate and enjoy that moment, we want to back up performances, but we have to celebrate these moments."

Wales are fourth in the Northern Hemisphere standings, while Italy remain bottom following a defeat to Argentina earlier on Saturday.

Italy lost 14-19 at Stadio Luigi Ferraris, leaving them with one point from five games, while Argentina moved up to third in the South standings.