When Wales first played New Zealand in 1905 the match was billed as a world title decider. A century later the same could be said of today's encounter, with the two teams the champions of their respective hemispheres, but tours are not what they used to be and everyone's focus is already on the 2007 World Cup.

Wales's last defeat was against New Zealand a year ago, when they lost a close encounter by one point; the All Blacks' only reverse this year was against South Africa. If form suggests a contest as fiercely contested as the first meeting between the countries, the relative strength of the teams is reflected in the two benches.

Wales, without six of their players who toured New Zealand with the Lions last summer, have only one replacement who has started a Six Nations match, the scrumhalf Gareth Cooper, while the All Blacks, not fielding their strongest side, have a rich vein of experience in Richie McCaw, who is expected to be involved despite injuring a wrist on Thursday, Leon MacDonald and Ma'a Nonu, players who can change the course of a game.

The Wales coach Mike Ruddock yesterday played down the loss of Lions who were influential in last season's grand slam campaign, Gavin Henson, Dwayne Peel, Martyn Williams, Gethin Jenkins, Tom Shanklin and Ryan Jones. But, if Wales are chasing the game with 25 minutes to go, his options will be limited while his opposite number Graham Henry has experienced cover in virtually every position.

Though it is 52 years since Wales beat New Zealand the fixture remains one of the most significant in the calendar. Rugby in both countries has been a way of life in the last 100 years, a means of national identity. In that first match, incidentally, the Welsh players' response to the All Blacks' haka was to sing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau. The song was taken up by the 47,000 crowd and soon adopted as the Welsh national anthem.

Wales badly lost their way in the final years of the amateur era and it took the influence of two New Zealanders, Henry and Steve Hansen, both in the visitors' dressing room today, to get them on the road to redemption. Wales and New Zealand have traditionally been pioneers in the sport, plotters and schemers, and both have enjoyed success this year by playing a game of pace and risk and placing emphasis on individual instinct, forcing even the likes of South Africa, Australia and England, countries who won the World Cup between 1991 and 2003 by basing their games on power, attrition and defence, to re-evaluate their approaches.

Ruddock says Wales will remain true to the style which took them from the bottom of the Six Nations to the top in two years despite the loss of pivotal players and he has spent recent weeks poring over the videos of the Lions tour. Wales will need to have more of a presence at the breakdown than the Lions, clearing out effectively to allow quick recycling, and with a relatively untried centre combination, they will look to their wings to come off the flanks.

Ruddock will have armed his players with the element of surprise but. Henry and Hansen know the Welsh players well.

"Only one of their starting line-up was not involved in the 2003 World Cup," said Henry yesterday. Hansen coached Wales in that tournament and it was during the group defeat against the All Blacks that they played with the flair and derring-do which characterised last season's Six Nations campaign. Wales have won eight matches in a row, threatening the post-war record of 10 set by Henry's side in 1999, but nine? Nein.