Leigh Halfpenny has criticised the Millennium Stadium pitch after Wales slid to another defeat against New Zealand.

The playing surface, often slammed since the stadium opened 10 years ago, began cutting up within minutes of yesterday's Test match kicking off.

Given that Wales have three further Tests to play on it in the space of 16 days this month, prospects of immaculate conditions seem remote.

"All the boys would say that at times they slipped on the surface," said Wales wing Halfpenny.

"It is up to the groundsman to get that right. I am not too sure why it happened.

"You could see after the game that it is a bit of a mess out there - and it has to be right, really.

"We are at the top level of sport. It's [the stadium] a fantastic facility, but we need a pitch."

It has emerged that a technical fault meant the stadium roof could not be closed for a period early last week, which meant the pitch was not protected from bouts of heavy rain that fell in Cardiff.

Although Saturday's match was played with the roof shut, the pitch problems were laid bare.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland said: "I think it was a bit soft - we realise that.

"The All Blacks talked about wanting the roof closed, and we wanted the roof closed so we could play some rugby. But unfortunately in the week they were unable to close the roof when it was raining.

"It was open on Tuesday and Wednesday, and they were able to close it on Thursday.

"There were two days where it wouldn't close, but it is difficult with stadia like this with a roof - because when you get a lot of people inside, the pitch can sweat a bit too.

"But it was the same for both teams. It was cutting up a little bit, and it would have been nice if it had been a wee bit harder."

All Blacks centre Conrad Smith added: "We had a walk around the pitch on Friday, and I thought it was the best I had seen it. It was just unfortunate it cut up.

"I think it affected the breakdown the most. When the boys were running on top of the surface they were all right, but when they tried to stand on their feet in contact it was really hard.

"You saw a lot of guys going off their feet. The ground was giving up under them."

While the All Blacks now head to Milan to face Italy, Wales must regroup for next Friday night's testing fixture against Samoa.

Gatland is set to make several changes - with the likes of Cardiff Blues flanker Sam Warburton, Ospreys fly-half Dan Biggar, Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies and Newport Gwent Dragons forward Dan Lydiate all possibly featuring.

But the pain of another Test loss to the All Blacks - it is now 21 in succession - will probably linger.

"They [New Zealand] were out on their feet at the end, and it was just that final critical moment we didn't quite nail," said Halfpenny.

"We kept going at them. We could sense we were going to create something, and we nearly did.

"I think all the boys feel it was a missed opportunity. We believed in our camp we were going to win the game.

"Luckily enough, we get to play them again next summer. We want to be competing with the best, building towards the next World Cup."