Landmark for Wales at Millennium Stadium

The Millennium Stadium became the true home of Welsh sport in 1999, since then, on home soil, Wales have won twenty-six and drawn two of their forty-nine games to date. Stephen Jones’s team will be hoping to give Gareth Jenkins the perfect start to his first RBS Six Nations Championship campaign and notch that winning figure up to twenty-seven when they run out on Sunday.

The first event at the Millennium Stadium was on the 26th June 1999, when Wales beat South Africa for the first time in ninety-two years of trying. That game was played in front of a crowd of only 27,683 as the finishing touches were still being applied to the arena that was set to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

Wales have played seventeen different nations at the Millennium Stadium and beaten all of them at least once bar New Zealand.

Great Welsh Rugby moments at the Millennium Stadium

The 2005 Grand Slam: A first win over England in Cardiff in twelve years set up the assault on the Grand Slam with that Gavin Henson penalty securing a famous 11-9 win. The three road trips to Scotland, Italy and France cranked up the pressure for the Grand Slam challenge against the Irish, but Wales delivered as Gethin Jenkins and Kevin Morgan scored tries, Stephen Jones kicked the points and a nation celebrated a first Slam in twenty-seven years.

Beating South Africa on ‘Opening Night’: There may have only been a select 27,683 in the unfinished ground on the 26th June 1999, but it was a privilege to be there to see Wales beat the Springboks for the first time in ninety-two years of asking. Neil Jenkins kicked the first points at the Millennium Stadium and Mark Taylor scored the first try, but it was the 29-19 scoreline that made the real history.

Downing the Wallabies for the first time in eighteen years: You had to go back six years for the last win over one of the Southern Hemisphere giants and eighteen years for the last win over Australia. So, when Shane Williams skipped away for his match winning try it was time to celebrate. The win was no flash in the pan because a year later Wales forced a 29-29 draw with a team they will meet again at the Millennium Stadium in 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Starting the 1999 Rugby World Cup with a bang: The pressure was on Graham Henry’s men to deliver a win as the host nation in the opening game of the tournament. The Pumas were a tough nut to crack, but tries from Colin Charvis and Mark Taylor made it four wins in a row at the Millennium Stadium and extended the Welsh team’s unbeaten run to nine matches.

For the Record (Wales’s record at Millennium Stadium (capped matches only))