All Blacks blow Tonga away
The All Blacks, who held a 14-3 lead after a competitive first half by the Tongans, scored five tries in the last half-hour as they raced away to a comprehensive 47-9 win in Newcastle on Friday.
The Kiwis had, after cruising in third gear for most of the first half, finally switched into overdrive and the Pacific Islanders had no answer to the pace and power of the All Blacks.
The All Blacks remain short of their champion best and were rattled by the Tongan forwards before some Nehe Milner-Skudder magic set up the victory.
Milner-Skudder scored twice in five minutes midway through the second half at St James' Park to take the stuffing out of a Tonga side that had valiantly stayed in touch for the first 50 minutes.
The New Zealanders, having already qualified for the play-offs before the game, were looking to polish their rough edges against Tonga.
They completed a clean sweep of four group wins, but it was still not the completely fluent performance they were looking for.
They now know they still have work to do as they wait to find their first sudden-death opponent which will be the loser of Sunday's match in Cardiff between Ireland and France.
"It wasn't complete, but the second half we were pretty happy with," said coach Steve Hansen after the game.
"We were pretty scratchy in the first half. But I'm very very happy with the way we finished off the game. We can put a full stop now on the round robin and we are off to the finals," he added.
"We can't afford to make unforced errors so we will look at that and just keep building on our game and try to improve our skill execution."
There will be particular concerns about how their forwards again buckled under pressure, as they did against Georgia last week, which Australia would have noted after the way their pack excelled when beating England.
In the backs, most of the passes stuck and crucial tackles were made as they outscored Tonga seven tries to nil.
Ben Smith, Tony Woodcock, Milner-Skudder (twice), Sonny Bill Williams, Sam Cane and Ma'a Nonu in his 100th Test all crossed the line. Dan Carter landed six of seven conversions.
In the first half, every time it looked as if the All Blacks had Tonga on the ropes, the islanders fought their way back using their powerful pack.
In a dramatic end to the half Tonga were unlucky not to win a penalty try when stand-in All Blacks captain Kieran Read was yellow-carded for collapsing a driving maul.
Tonga, knowing they had the All Blacks forwards under the cosh, turned down a shot at goal in favour of a scrum.
Twice the seven-man All Blacks collapsed under pressure and with referee John Lacey's patience running out, Tonga opted for one more scrum but this time they tried to shift the ball and came up short.
Richie McCaw, not playing because of a thigh injury, had a lot to say every time he took the field in his role as waterboy.
Tonga made a statement at the very start when they shoved the All Blacks into submission in the first scrum.
They won a penalty which took them to a line-out on the halfway which turned against them.
The All Blacks stole the throw in, moved the ball wide where Milner-Skudder and Conrad Smith took play inside the Tongan 22-metre area before fullback Ben Smith popped up in support for the try.
Tonga came back, with attempts to run the ball not paying dividends they found more success with forward drives down the narrow channel which won them a penalty in the 23rd minute for Kurt Morath to close the gap.
However, the All Blacks frenetic pace was opening gaps although they squandered one opportunity when Waisake Naholo dropped a pass in a three-on-one situation.
But they made no mistake minutes later when Tony Woodcock barrelled over from close range.
After Tonga's valiant but eventually unsuccessful attempt to drive over on half-time the All Blacks turned with a 14-3 lead.
First strike in the second half belonged to Tonga with a second Kurt Morath penalty.
The All Blacks responded by running Tonga into submission until eventually a hole appeared for Milner-Skudder to scamper over for a try.
He was over again five minutes later, diving on the ball after Beauden Barrett had chipped over the line.
The the score blown out to 28-9, the sting was gone from Tonga allowing Sonny Bill Williams, Sam Cane and Ma'a Nonu to cross the line.
Man of the match: Soane Tonga'uiha up front and Latiume Fosita were Tonga's best players. Ben Smith showed why he is rated as arguably the world's premier fullback, Conrad Smith was class, Aaron Smith was energetic and the forwards all worked hard. However, our award goes to All Black No.10 Dan Carter, who produced another masterclass in flyhalf play.
Moment of the match: There were seven great tries by New Zealand, but there were a couple of scrums late in the first half where Tonga showed New Zealand's set pieces can be vulnerable. They produced no points, but they are moments of joy for the minnows.
Villain of the match: There has been a lot of talk about the Pacific Islanders' often over the top aggression and Tongan replacement hooker Paula Ngauamo certainly added to the believe that they feel they have a right to hurt the opposition. His yellow card was deserved.
The scorers:
For New Zealand:
Tries: B Smith, Woodcock, Milner-Skudder 2, Williams, Cane, Nonu
Cons: Carter 6
For Tonga:
Pens: Morath 3
Yellow card: Kieran Read (New Zealand, 38 – professional foul, collapsing the maul), Paula Ngauamo (Tonga, 69 – foul play, tip tackle)
The Teams
New Zealand: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Waisake Naholo, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Tawera Kerr Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Sonny Bill Williams.
Tonga: 15 Vungakoto Lilo, 14 Telusa Veainu, 13 Siale Piutau, 12 Latiume Fosita, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 Kurt Morath, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Viliami Ma'afu, 7 Nili Latu (captain), 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Joseph Tuineau, 4 Tukulua Lokotui, 3 Halani 'Aulika, 2 Elvis Taione, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Paula Ngauamo, 17 Sona Taumalolo, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Sitiveni Mafi, 20 Jack Ram, 21 Samisoni Fisilau, 22 Viliami Tahitu'a, 23 Will Helu.
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: JP Doyle (England), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
