Colin Meads, at the same age, had played 15 tests.
Tests come around fast these days in international rugby and Retallick - who is becoming a bit of an iron man on the field - admits his half-century has come around rapidly.
He believes he has improved as a player in that time.
"I hope I'm a wee bit more game smarter than I was five years ago. [The game] is faster I think. The skill set is a bit higher and guys can offload better.''
Retallick made his debut against Ireland at Eden Park alongside fellow new boy Aaron Smith, who will also play his 50th test should he make an appearance at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday.
Retallick reported his Chiefs team-mate, Aaron Cruden, appeared to be in good nick and is over the neck injury which had him stretchered off the field at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday.
Who will start the test will not be known until Thursday morning when the team is named.
Retallick, the nephew of former All Black prop John Ashworth, said the side was looking forward to getting out on to Forsyth Barr Stadium.
"You know what you are going to get with the field and the weather. It is exciting to know you can go out there and play some attacking footy. We pride ourselves on always finishing strong and playing until the 80th minute.
"Knowing it is going to be a dry track and we can keep attacking is exciting.''
He said any poor handling in the first two games could not be blamed on the conditions but was more to do with a lack of focus from the players and pushing passes which were not on.
The Welsh were sometimes hard to read around the breakdown and the big lock said the All Blacks perhaps needed to be smarter at the situation and read what was going to happen.
Retallick's tight five partner, prop Owen Franks, said yesterday the All Black scrum was a work in progress but he was happy with how it was tracking.
"I think we have had good improvements from the first week and have made a good step up. The focus this week is just keeping on improving,'' Franks said.
"It is just a little bit of timing. Guys come from different teams. But scrummaging is pretty simple. Eight people scrummaging all together and ironing out a few kinks. The more time we spend with each other at training then the better we get.''
Franks (28), who brought up his 80th test for the All Blacks in Wellington last Saturday, said the Welsh looked to attack through the scrum.
"Northern hemisphere teams can sometimes be a little bit more awkward. We've just got to adapt a bit quicker and adjust to what they are doing.
"They always try and keep the ball in. When it is their ball they try to keep the ball in and look for a penalty. I guess they just try to be real disruptive and not give them clean ball.''
Franks may have played the second-most number of tests by a prop for the All Blacks after the recently retired Tony Woodcock but he has still not scored a try.
Not that it is worrying him.
"To be honest, I could not care less. I want to be judged on scrumagging first and foremost. It would be cool to get a try but it is not something that keeps me up at night.''
