Wales left fuming with Carter in NZ loss

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Wales coach Warren Gatland saw red, Graham Henry fired back and Dan Carter was booed off the field, perhaps for the first time in his rugby career.

So ended another stirring chapter in All Blacks-Wales history as the Carter-led tourists last night clung on to a 19-12 win at Millennium Stadium to extend their dominance to 57 years and 21 Tests over their old rivals.

While Carter's boot - both in general play and off the kicking tee - was exemplary and earned him the man-of-the-match award, his forearm sparked rage in the Welsh camp after an epic test.

Gatland and his feisty assistant Shaun Edwards slammed referee Craig Joubert and his fellow match officials for not yellow-carding Carter for his high tackle on reserve halfback Martin Roberts in the 72nd minute.

"I've seen players sinbinned for that or even sent off, and we should have been playing against 14 players in the last 10 minutes," Edwards fumed.

The desperate tackle had to be made as Welsh winger Shane Williams raced clear and put Roberts away, only for Carter to emerge from nowhere and snuff out the movement.

Replays showed Carter's forearm hit Roberts high and it sparked the red-clad crowd of 74,330, who booed loudly when the star All Blacks pivot accepted the award later.

"It was a head-high tackle wasn't it? A guy makes a break in the 22m, and you feel if that's at the other end it's three points and a yellow card," Gatland said.

"And all the officials missed it, so we're pretty disappointed about that."

Gatland went a step further in a post-match television interview, suggesting the All Blacks got away with offences that other sides didn't, and that referees were scared to make bold decisions which could result in an upset.

That provoked a terse response from Henry.

"Complete rubbish, isn't it? I think that's a huge stretch and I don't even think Warren would believe that."

Reminded that Gatland had clearly made the comments, Henry retorted: "He's said a lot of things this week."

Henry was comfortable with Carter's tackle, although he claimed he hadn't seen a replay.

"It seemed to me that he hit him around the chest and slid up, and the other guy ducked under."

The All Blacks, who scored the only try through hooker Andrew Hore, led 19-6 with 15 minutes remaining but couldn't put the Welsh away.

Five-eighth Stephen Jones landed back-to-back penalties to make it 19-12 with five minutes left, before Wales launched some final desperate attacks.

Lock Alan-Wyn Jones intercepted a Jimmy Cowan pass and raced 50m, only for impressive All Blacks debutant Zac Guildford to slap down the ball and halt the movement.

Then a botched lineout throw on the All Blacks' line, pinched by Adam Thomson, ended any hopes of Wales snatching a famous draw.

The All Blacks had three tries disallowed by English television match official Graham Hughes, with centre Conrad Smith unlucky not to be awarded his 62nd minute effort after a neat wrap-around by Carter.

"We had three tries the TMO looked at, and one was pretty obvious, and that would have given us a gap and maybe we could have used that. That was a bit disappointing," Henry said.

"But the guys played very well in the second half and perhaps deserved to win by more."

Carter kicked five from five, to make it 13 from 13 on tour and move within one of Andrew Mehrtens' New Zealand Test record of 967 points.

For Wales captain Ryan Jones it was a familiar tale.

"We're bitterly disappointed, we came here today trying to win. But I'm extremely proud of the way the guys performed, especially in that last 20 minutes. We certainly didn't give up or go into our shells," Jones said.

"But people only remember winners and we came off second best and for all of us that's a bitter pill to swallow."