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All Blacks outclass Pumas in Hamilton

The All Blacks scored eight tries to one but it was not until Ryan Crotty crossed 13 minutes into the second half that they started to gain command.

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With the score at 24-22, Crotty's try sparked a 33-point spree in the closing 27 minutes of the match.

By full-time the dominance was clear-cut, but after strolling to victory twice over Australia in the opening rounds of the tournament, the All Blacks this time found a more formidable opponent until the Pumas ran out of steam.

Julian Savea, Ben Smith and Beauden Barrett scored first-half tries for the All Blacks who turned with a 24-19 advantage, while Ryan Crotty scored twice and Charlie Faumuina, Smith again and Luke Romano touched down in the second half.

Argentina held the lead three times in the first spell. The game was less than three minutes old when they scored the opening try, and while they did not cross the All Blacks line again they commanded sufficient territory to land a string of penalties.

It was not, however, the vaunted power of the Pumas pack that did the damage, but their turnovers and smart off-loads in an expansive game that stretched the All Blacks.

They scored the first try in the second minute when a deft pass from scrumhalf Martin Landajo sent Santiago Cordero away on a 25-metre run to the line.

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Nicolas Sanchez landed the conversion and kept the scoreboard ticking over with four penalties in the first half.

The All Blacks were keen to show they had the muscle up front and opted for scrums over close-range penalties early in the Test.

It paid dividends with a try to Savea, coming into the backline from the blindside wing, after Kieran Read had plucked the ball from the back of a scrum.

When the All Blacks slipped behind 7-13, Smith brought them back into the game with his first try after a powerful run by Savea in which the big wing steamrolled his way up to the line.

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When a further Sanchez penalty restored Argentina's lead, the All Blacks hit back with a long-range penalty by Israel Dagg and a try to Barrett.

Sanchez landed his fifth penalty early in the second half to close the gap to 24-22, but by then the Pumas were starting to tire — as the All Blacks stepped up a gear to score at better than a point a minute.

With their third win out of three, the victory kept the All Blacks on track to win the southern hemisphere championship for the fourth time in five years.

They also remain unbeaten after 23 clashes with Argentina, winning 22 and drawing one, and they stretched their current unbeaten run against all sides to 14.

Man of the Match: You could pick out a number of players for this award. Wing Julian Savea showed that he is still a force in world rugby with some strong runs and a try, while Ben Smith caused havoc again when he was given a bit of space. Ryan Crotty and Aaron Smith also displayed some neat touches with ball in hand. Up front, Kieran Read, Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock were outstanding, while Jerome Kaino gave his team an edge physically with his bone-crunching tackles. However, the award goes to flyhalf Beauden Barrett for another commanding performance on attack and having a hand in a number of his team's tries.

Moment of the Match: Beauden Barrett's display of brilliance to put Ryan Crotty through for his first try of the game.

Villain of the Match: It was a fantastic game with no villains at all.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:

Tries: J Savea, B Smith 2, Barrett, Crotty 2, Faumuina, Romano

Cons: Barrett 6, Cruden

Pen: Dagg

For Argentina:

Try: Cordero

Con: Sanchez

Pens: Sanchez 5

Teams:

New Zealand: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody.

Replacements: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown.

Argentina: 15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Matthias Moroni, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Juan Martin Hernandez, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustin Creevy (captain), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.

Replacements: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Mark Kremer, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Ramiro Moyano.

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Marius Mitrea (Italy)

TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)

AFP & @rugby365com

 

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