The All Blacks overpowered Argentina in Christchurch on Saturday night, scoring ten tries to two and in the process denying the visitors the prospect of their first ever win over New Zealand.

This was not a flawless All Black performance, but Wayne Smith will feel that his side is building the combinations and confidence ahead of the bigger challenges ahead. The Pumas were competitive in the forward exchanges , without ever being able to achieve domination, lacked ambition when they had the ball in hand, and were simply blown away by the counter-attacking brilliance of the home side.

The All Blacks got Jonah Lomu into the game immediately. Fed in space on the left he made good ground before Umaga dropped his inside pass with the line beckoning. The Pumas then settled their nerves with a couple of drives to get themselves out of immediate danger. Lomu was again in the thick of the action at the other end, touching down after the Pumas had sliced open the All Black defence . The visitors continued to attack, Contepomi prominent and the forwards combining well to create pressure.Untidy play at a ruck offered the Pumas a penalty and Contepomi deservedly put his side ahead after 7 minutes.

The All Blacks continued to concede penalties, 4 in the first 8 minutes, as they struggled to find any rhythm. But against the run of play they scored a magnificent try. MacDonald caught a high ball on his 22, made good ground, fed Alatini, Randell and Mehrtens took the ball on , Lomu broke the defence and Umaga went over unopposed for his 22 nd test try. Mehrtens converted well.

As the Pumas pressed, the All Blacks seized upon further counter-attacking opportunities, Flavell breaking through the defence magnificently before losing his support. However, touch judge Lewis had detected an off the ball infringement and Contepomi kicked his second penalty.

Mehrtens added to the All Black lead with an 18th minute penalty after the Pumas handled in a ruck. Umaga again showed poor handling after Flavell and Marshall had combined well to create a dangerous opening on the right. At the end of the first quarter the Pumas had done well to contain the All Blacks and in some of the forward exchanges were getting the better of the exchanges.However, Flavell, having a stormer, broke the defence after a maul, made good ground up the left before the ball was switched back right for Randell to score the second try. Mehrtens again converted.

Alatini scored the third try on the left after debutant Collins drove through a ruck to create a turnover. The ball went quickly along the line to create the overlap for an easy try. Mehrtens converted. Solid forward play, combined with elusive running close to the ruck by Contepomi , gave the fly half the chance for his third penalty which he converted comfortably from in front.

A heavy tackle and fall saw Jerry Collins leave the field with a serious-looking shoulder injury, Holah coming on for his second cap and Randell moving to no8. Surprisingly, Collins came back on to the field 4 minutes later , still visibly wincing. A magnificent Argentinian break out , after Alatini had spilled the ball on the 22, led to skipper Arbizu racing over for a spectacular try. Andrew Mehrtens damaged a hamstring in vain pursuit and Brown came on as a replacement on the verge of half time. But there was still time for Alatini to score his second try , after a strong scrummage 8 metres out put the Pumas under too much pressure, allowing Marshall to deliver the scoring pass. Collins again left the field with his shoulder injury , clearly in agony and destined not to return on the night. 31-14 at half time, the All Blacks having scored 4 tries to 1.

The second half started magnificently for the All Blacks : Maxwell won good line out ball, Brown broke the defence, Umaga powered towards the line and fed MacDonald on the inside for his first test try. Unfortunately, that was the full back's final contribution, a leg injury seeing his replacement by Doug Howlett, Jeff Wilson moving to the no15 spot.

Anton Oliver was then sin-binned for punching and as the Pumas forward eight drove towards the All Black line a skirmish broke out. This was short-lived and the Pumas mounted a series of attacking scrums before conceding a penalty to allow Brown to relieve the pressure. The visitors continued to pound away at the defence before a Marshall intercept threatened a sensational end to end try. Not quite quick enough, he was run down by the defence.

Huge All Black tackling knocked the Pumas back time and time again as they struggled to make the most of the New Zealanders' one man shortage. As Oliver returned, Roberto Grau was lucky to get away with a yellow card after charging into Troy Flavell's ribs with his knees in a ruck. The All Blacks quickly exploited the lack of numbers, Oliver charging before the ball was spun to the right for Wilson to force his way over. Brown converted from wide out.

Chris Jack, having come on to make his debut in place of the injured Flavell scored the seventh try after Marshall had broken through the defence from a scrum on the 22. Brown's conversion brought up the 50 points. Now rampant, the All Blacks worked the ball well on the right flank from deep in their territory, Wilson drew the defence and put Howlett in the clear and he raced away for an exciting try. Clever work by the Aucklander on the other flank , after Jack had made good ground, gave Marty Holah his first test try as the Pumas defence crumbled.

Jeff Wilson scored the tenth try , in the process joining Christian Cullen on 42 test tries, after Umaga cleverly kicked through the defence for the flying winger to gather and stroll over. Wilson was straight into the action at the other end, but on this occasion was unable to prevent Camardon scoring , their first points of the second half, after Pichot had chipped through. Quesada's failed conversion was the game's final play.

Scorers :

New Zealand : 67: Tries : Alatini (2), Umaga, Randell , MacDonald, Wilson (2), Jack, Howlett , Holah Conversions : Mehrtens (3), Brown (4) Penalties : Mehrtens

Argentina: 19 : Try : Arbizu, Camardon Penalties : Contepomi (3)

New Zealand :

Leon MacDonald, Jeff Wilson, Tana Umaga, Pita Alatini, Jonah Lomu, Andrew Mehrtens, Justin Marshall, Jerry Collins, Taine Randell, Reuben Thorne, Norm Maxwell, Troy Flavell, Carl Hayman, Anton Oliver ( captain), Carl Hoeft.

Replacements : Doug Howlett, Tony Brown, Byron Kelleher, Ron Cribb, Chris Jack, Greg Somerville, Mark Hammett.

Argentina :

Bernardo Stortoni, Gonzalo Camardon, Jose Orengo, Lisandro Arbizu ( captain), Diefi Albanese, Felipe Contepomi, Agustin Pichot, Gonzalo Longo, Rolando Martin, Santiago Phelan, Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, Alejandro Allub, Omar Hasan, Federico Mendez, Roberto Grau

Replacements : Jose Nunez Piossek, Gonzalo Quesada, Nicholas Fernandez Miranda, Martin Durand, Lucas Ostiglia, Mauricio Reggiardo, Mario Ledesma.