Wales’s reply to the New Zealand haka on Saturday was one of the more successful responses in modern times to an issue that has exercised most teams who have faced the All Blacks. After New Zealand had thrown down their challenge, the entire Wales team stood stock still.

Jonathan Kaplan, the referee, seemed surprised when neither side retreated and he kicked the ball around the halfway line by himself for a moment or two as the teams refused to take their positions ready for play. After a time he approached Ryan Jones, the Wales captain, and asked him to step up to the halfway line, only for Jones to tell him to turn round and see that the All Blacks had not moved.

For some seconds there was stalemate. As the 15 men wearing red remained motionless, the noise from more than 74,000 spectators grew. They sensed that a battle of wills was going on, one that was going Wales’s way, and the more it did, the more they cheered. By the time Jones gave the signal to his men to move — only after the All Blacks had turned first — it was deafening.

The previous time the teams met in Cardiff in 2006, Wales had tried a different, more controversial tactic when they wanted to sing Land of my Fathers after the haka. The All Blacks refused and instead performed the haka in their changing-room. The All Blacks then inflicted a 45-10 thumping.

This time there was a moral victory for Wales, who simply stood their ground and made the All Blacks retreat. Having grabbed the initiative before the starting whistle, Wales kept it for the opening minutes. It was gripping entertainment and took something away from the All Blacks. It was gentlemanly and within the spirit of the game, too.

All week there had been mutterings that Wales were preparing a response to New Zealand’s famous pre-match routine. “We’re doing a Welsh haka,” Warren Gatland, the Wales head coach, joked on television eight days ago. No one quite expected to see what they saw, though.

“It was something that emerged during the week,” Jones said. “It was our stadium, our pitch, our fans. We were not going to give up our patch.”

Gethin Jenkins, the loose-head prop, admitted on Saturday night that one Wales player had come up with the bones of the idea, but refused to name him. A source within the Wales camp revealed that it had been thought up in a team meeting with numerous players contributing to the discussion. He also suggested that one voice was heard above all others.

Whose was that voice? Step forward Gatland. For a few moments on a pulsating afternoon the New Zealanders were outdone by the competitive and ingenious nature of another New Zealander. Welshmen will bemoan that it did not last longer than the first half.