The 1988 Wales rugby union tour of New Zealand was a series of

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

games undertaken by the

Wales national rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team ( cy, Tîm rygbi'r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played the ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. The tour consisted of six matches against regional teams and two Tests against

. The tour was not a success for Wales, losing both Tests by heavy scores, and only winning two of the six matches against regional teams. The itinerary was a hard one and New Zealand coach Alex Wyllie stated that he would not have accepted a similar fixture list for his team. The team suffered badly from injuries and had to add six extra players during the course of the tour. Original tour captain Bleddyn Bowen broke his wrist in the second game and was replaced as skipper by Bob Norster, until he suffered a badly gashed knee, whereupon Jonathan Davies took over the captaincy.

Results

''Scores and results list Wales's points tally first.''

Touring party

*Manager: R. Morgan *Coach: Tony Gray *Assistant coach: Derek Quinnell *Captain:

Bleddyn Bowen Bleddyn Bowen (born 16 July 1961) is a former international Wales rugby union player. Bleddyn Bowen played club rugby for South Wales Police and Swansea RFC. His first international game was in 1983, along with five other first caps, against Ro ...

, subsequently

Bob Norster Robert Leonard "Bob" Norster (born 23 June 1957) is a former Welsh international rugby union player. He was selected for the 1983 British Lions tour to New Zealand and the 1989 British Lions tour to Australia In 1989, the British Lions tour ...

then Jonathan Davies

Full-backs

* Jonathan Mason ''replacement during tour'' *

Tony Clement Tony Peter Clement (born January 27, 1961) is a Canadian former federal politician and former Member of Parliament for Parry Sound—Muskoka in Ontario. Before entering federal politics, Clement served as an Ontario cabinet minister, including ...

* Steve Bowling

Three-quarters

Mark Ring Mark Gerarde Ring (born 15 October 1962) played rugby union for Cardiff, Pontypool and Wales between 1982 and 1996. He was regarded as among the most gifted players of his generation but his career was hampered by serious injury. Club career ...

* Mike Hall *

Ieuan Evans Ieuan Cennydd Evans (born 21 March 1964) is a former rugby union player who played on the wing for Wales and the British and Irish Lions. He is the fourth highest try scorer for Wales behind Shane Williams, George North and Gareth Thomas an ...

* John Devereux * Nigel Davies *

Glen Webbe Glen Webbe is a former Wales rugby union international player. Webbe is often stated to be the first Black Welsh person to represent the Welsh national rugby union team, and has been described as "Wales first black icon". Early life Webbe was ...

* Carwyn Davies

Half-backs

* Jonathan Davies * Jonathan Griffiths * Robert Jones

Forwards

Staff Jones Stephen Thomas "Staff" Jones, (born 4 January 1959) is a former Wales rugby union international from Ynysybwl. A Loosehead prop forward product of Ynysybwl RFC, he briefly played for Pontypridd RFC before making 408 appearances for Pontypool RF ...

* Ian Watkins * Dai Young * Kevin Moseley * Phil May * Rowland Phillips * David Bryant * Gary Jones ''replacement during tour'' * Mark Jones ''replacement during tour'' * Kevin Phillips *

* Paul Moriarty *

Tim Fauvel Timothy John Fauvel (born 9 June 1960) is a Welsh former rugby union international. Born in Bridgend, Fauvel was a back-row forward who played for Aberavon. Plagued at times by injury, which caused him to withdraw from Wales' 1986 Pacific tour, h ...

Anthony Buchanan Anthony Buchanan (born 30 June 1955 in Ystradgynlais, Wales) is a former rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One o ...

* Jeremy Pugh * Phil May * Richie Collins * Mark Pugh ''replacement during tour'' * Steve Sutton ''replacement during tour''

Matches

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wales Wales tour 1988 1988 1988 in New Zealand rugby union 1987–88 in Welsh rugby union History of rugby union matches between New Zealand and Wales