Warburton, who became the longest-serving Wales captain during the tour, said he had believed for some time that if there was a World Cup where countries had to put in their fifth of sixth team, New Zealand would be well ahead of anyone else.

That had been borne out during the tour he told Wales Rugby TV.

"The depth of talent they've got here is frightening really. The amount of talent they've got in this country. That's why coming over here when people were saying they were missing certain players: McCaw, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith and all those, it doesn't make a difference.

"They've got fantastic guys who can come in and do a job. They lose a little bit of experience but the talent they've got is incredible and that's why they're the best rugby nation in the world," he said.

Wales had gone into Saturday's third Test in Dunedin hoping to make a good showing in their last appearance but the continual improvement of the All Blacks was greater than the resolve a clearly tired Welsh team could muster.

"We gave it everything out there but they were just way too good for us, in counter-attack. Defensively we were poor, falling off tackles. I don't know what the reason was for that, it was hard to put your finger on and it was just one of those days where they were a heck of a lot better than we were.

"Some days you just have to put your hands up and say you were off it and they were the better team and definitely deserved to win," he said.