Captain Sam Cane hailed a “ruthless” performance by the All Blacks after they romped to a 41-12 win over Argentina in Mendoza on Saturday as New Zealand got their Rugby Championship campaign off to a flying start.
Two months before the Rugby World Cup kicks off in France, New Zealand capped a strong performance by scoring seven tries to Argentina’s two, having led 31-0 at half-time.
The All Blacks crossed for three tries in the first 12 minutes alone to silence a sold-out crowd at Estadio Malvinas and were rarely threatened by the error-prone Pumas.
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Cane described New Zealand’s electric first-half display as “outstanding”.
“I thought the key to that first 20 minutes was our discipline and how ruthless we were on attack,” he told Sky Sport.
“We were really clinical, able to get the ball to space and as a result I thought we nullified the effect of the crowd.
“The Pumas came back in the second half, it was a little bit of an arm-wrestle but I’m really pleased and proud of that result.”
‘Wake-up call’
New Zealand were unable to assert the same authority in the second half.
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster said it left them with areas to work on ahead of next Saturday’s match against South Africa in Auckland.
“It’s a bit of a wake-up call – the first half was great, the second half is probably more of what’s to come,” Foster said with one eye on the Springboks.
The match in Auckland will be an early Rugby Championship showdown after the Springboks had earlier crushed Australia 43-12 in Pretoria.
Nevertheless, it was an impressive start to the year for the All Blacks, who endured a turbulent 2022 season when they suffered four defeats including a historic loss to Argentina in Christchurch.
The Pumas couldn’t generate the same intensity, with their forwards often on the back foot.
The hosts conceded a stream of a scrum penalties against the impressive New Zealand pack and lacked rhythm on their few attacking opportunities.
Argentina captain Julian Montoya conceded his team were “shocked” to fall behind so quickly from the outset and would need to be vastly improved against the Wallabies in Sydney next week.
“We didn’t have intensity, we had nothing, we have to be critical of ourselves,” Montoya said.
“You can see when we are a team, we can be dangerous. We need to be way better.”
Lightning start
The closest the Pumas came to scoring in the first half was in the opening 30 seconds when a Damian McKenzie clearing kick was charged down on New Zealand’s try line.
McKenzie, a surprise selection to start at fly-half ahead of Richie Mo’unga, went on to land only three of his seven conversion attempts for New Zealand but was an impressive performer in general play.
He played a part as the All Blacks unleashed their early barrage of tries to the trio of Wellington Hurricanes players Dane Coles, Ardie Savea and Jordie Barrett.
Barrett’s try was the pick of them, exchanging passes with brother Beauden in a sweeping counter-attack.
Midfield back Rieko Ioane busted through two weak tackles to extend New Zealand’s lead on the half-hour mark before scrum-half Aaron Smith crossed near the interval.
Pumas No. 8 Rodrigo Bruni was shown a yellow card for a professional foul during the lead-up to Smith’s try.
The home side survived the period down to 14 men and opened the second-half scoring when prop Lucio Sordoni burrowed over.
Fullback Beauden Barrett responded for the All Blacks following a brilliant McKenzie break before winger Emoni Narawa capped an impressive Test debut with a try in the closing minutes.
Veteran Pumas hooker Agustin Creevy came off the bench to batter his way over for a converted try in the last act of the game.
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