NEW Zealand boss Steve Hansen hailed the world champions power from the bench after overcoming Wales' herculean defensive effort late on at the Millennium Stadium, writes Chris Kirwan.

The All Blacks trailed 16-15 in the 69th minute yet produced a stunning finish to emerge with a 34-16 success.

Wales began to creak when forced to use their bench in the closing stages and Hansen believed it was a case of softening up their hosts.

"It was the best defensive performance against us this year and really intense," he said. "It's called a Test match because it's a test of your physical and mental attributes.

"When you play a good side you expect to be tested for longer than 50 minutes. I don't know about being rattled but they certainly tested us.

"The effort they put in for that 65 minutes was very good and defensively they worked hard but at some point you pay a price for that.

"We always felt that 23 players are needed to win Test matches and the players who came on carried that momentum."

Hansen was left frustrated by his side's error count – they turned the ball over 18 times – but lauded their composure.

"The big thing in our attacking game was that we didn't hold onto the ball when we were put under pressure.

"If we had held onto the ball we would have cracked them earlier because they would have had to work harder.

"But 10 minutes after half-time you could see it swing round to us and we had to make sure we took the opportunities that arose.

"We had to be composed because you're asking a team to have that energy for the whole game and I think that's just impossible.

"I don't think fitness is their problem, they just had to defend for long periods of the game and that's a lot harder than attacking for long periods."

New Zealand were named IRB team of the year after the final whistle with Hansen and lock Brodie Retallick picking up the coach and player of the year awards.