London: New Zealand marked Richie McCaw’s 100th Test as captain with a 34-16 victory over Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.
It was the world champions’ 26th consecutive victory over the Welsh, who led 13-10 with 17 minutes left at the Millennium Stadium.
But the All Blacks piled up 24 points in the final 17 minutes against a flagging Welsh side.
New Zealand scored five tries in the second half, Julian Savea, Jerome Kaino, Barrett (2) and Kieran Read all crossing the whitewash.
“You’ve got to keep believing,” McCaw told the BBC. “It wasn’t as if we were under the pump.
“It was important to finish off the year with a performance that we can sit back for a month and be proud of,” added the flanker, shortly before New Zealand lock Brodie Retallick was named the World Rugby Player of the Year for 2014.
In Dublin, fly-half Jonathan Sexton scored 16 points as Ireland edged Australia 26-23 in a thrilling clash.
The Wallabies had stormed back from going 17-0 down within the first 20 minutes as two tries by Nick Phipps and one from Bernard Foley got them back into it after Irish wings Simon Zebo and Tommy Bowe had crossed the Australia line in the opening 15 minutes.
“It was a terrific end to the campaign - to win against two southern hemisphere teams [South Africa and Australia] is great for morale,” said Ireland captain Paul O’Connell.
This was the Australia’s second straight loss under new coach Michael Cheika following last week’s equally narrow 29-26 defeat by France.
But Australia skipper Michael Hooper insisted the Wallabies, who face a tour finale against World Cup pool rivals England at Twickenham next weekend, were on the rise.
“If you look at last week to this week we’re definitely improving,” Hooper said.
England ended a run of five straight defeats - all by New Zealand and South Africa - with a 28-9 win over Samoa at Twickenham.
George Ford impressed on his first Test start, with the Bath fly-half kicking five out of seven goalkicks for a haul of 13 points in this night kick-off match and setting up two of England’s three tries.
“It feels good to get a win and it has been a long time,” said England coach Stuart Lancaster.
South Africa backed up last week’s three-point win over England with a scrappy 22-6 win against Italy in Padua featuring tries from Coenie Oosthuizen, Cobus Reinach and Bryan Habana.
But the match itself was overshadowed by the announcement after the final whistle that Springbok lock Bakkies Botha, who watched from the stands, was retiring from international rugby after an 85-cap career that included helping South Africa win the 2007 World Cup.
In Saturday’s concluding international, Argentina produced a tactical masterclass to beat France 18-13 at the Stade de France in Paris.
