Wales' Alun-Wyn Jones races away having intercepted the ball in the closing moments of his side's loss to New Zealand © Getty Images

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Teams: Wales

Wales lock Alun-Wyn Jones felt the pain of his side's 19-12 loss to New Zealand more than most after playing a starring role in a dramatic finale at the Millennium Stadium.

The 24-year-old's late interception and length of the field run had the capacity crowd on its feet but the second row ran out of steam and his pass was knocked down by All Blacks debutant Zac Guildford. Wales were guilty of another error in their quest to win the fixture for the first time since 1953 when replacement hooker Huw Bennett missed his man at an attacking lineout in the closing moments of the game.

But Jones was looking no further than himself in the wake of his side's 21st straight Test defeat at the hands of the All Blacks in a brutal yet honest assessment of the chance. "As a player, there are 101 things you can do in that situation," he said, recalling his interception of All Blacks scrum-half Jimmy Cowan's pass. "That will probably be my first and last international interception, but I should have done a lot better.

"Inside, Alun-Wyn Jones is not very happy with what happened. I turned in, but I didn't see the player coming across. If I had gone on the outside, I would have probably got a bit further towards the line."

Jones desperately tried to fling the ball out to unmarked centre Tom Shanklin, but Guildford's timely intervention denied Wales during the lung-busting closing exchanges. "World-class players finish things like that, and I don't think it was a world-class instance in the game for myself," added Jones.

And as for the lineout malfunction, Wales' chief second-row tactician was equally forthright. "Would I do it again? Yes; Should I back myself? Yes; Could I have called another five lineouts (options)? Yes; Was it an individual error? Yes; Was it a poor call? Yes; Will I take responsibility? Yes, that's what international players do; Will I blame anyone? No. All those questions are answered now," he said.

"It was a critical moment that we didn't nail, but we will get the win one day. We will keep getting the tag of nearly-men, but that is going to come to an end sooner or later, and when it does I hope I am around.

"When we do get on the front foot, we play some good rugby. We've got to shelve the nearly-men tag and move forward. It was a real opportunity for us. We've come a step closer, but not close enough."

While the All Blacks now head to Milan to face Italy, Wales must regroup for next Friday night's testing fixture against Samoa. Coach Warren Gatland is set to make several changes - with the likes of Cardiff Blues flanker Sam Warburton, Ospreys fly-half Dan Biggar, Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies and Newport Gwent Dragons forward Dan Lydiate all possibly featuring.