A devastating late surge saw New Zealand pound dogged Argentina 57-22 in a frenetic Rugby Championship encounter at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton yesterday.
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.
With the score at 24-22, Crotty’s try sparked a 33-point spree in the closing 27 minutes of the match. By fulltime 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 hosts, 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.
Photo: AFP
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 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 scrum-half Martin Landajo sent Santiago Cordero away on a 25m run to the line. Nicolas Sanchez landed the conversion and kept the scoreboard ticking over with four penalties in the first half.
Photo: EPA
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 13-7, 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 toward the line. 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, while 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.
In Brisbane, Australia beat South Africa 23-17 in their Rugby Championship match, ending a six-game losing streak that began with their defeat to New Zealand in last year’s World Cup final at Twickenham in England.
The Wallabies, who lost three home Tests in a row to England and then two to New Zealand home and away to open the Rugby Championship, trailed by a point at halftime in yesterday’s match.
However, the home side restricted South Africa to just a penalty in the second half and were put in front through a try to flyhalf Bernard Foley, who added two conversions and three penalties for a personal tally of 18 points.
New Zealand lead the competition on 15 points, with South Africa (6) second, Argentina (5) third and Australia (4) fourth.
Additional reporting by staff writer and AP
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