New Zealand showed little evidence of rustiness in their first international of the season, with the All Blacks scoring a 42-11 victory against France in Auckland writes Michael Wise for Sky Sports.
The Six Nations champions defended gamely against the World Cup favourites, but were gradually swamped by the home side’s familiar blend of poise and power.
The All Blacks scored five tries in all, with two scores each by Sitiveni Sivivatu and Aaron Mauger supplemented by a late touch down from replacement Rodney So’oialo.
Fielding an under-strength side, France could manage only one try – winger Jean-Francois Coux scoring on his debut – and Les Bleus were perhaps suffering after the end of a long European season.
New Zealand, by contrast, appeared to be champing at the bit after a long international lay-off, their victory albeit clouded by the half-time departures of captain Richie McCaw and fly-half Daniel Carter.
They should have gone ahead following a McCaw break after five minutes. However, the move broke down when Sivivatu fumbled.
Nevertheless, an early penalty conversion from Carter handed the home side the initiative, with the fly-half then doubling the All Blacks’ lead moments later.
Opposite number Benjamin Boyet pulled three points back with a penalty after 13 minutes, but the All Blacks were dominating territory and possession.
Sebastien Chabal made a couple of early handling errors but redeemed himself in no uncertain terms just past halfway in the first half with a crunching tackle on opposing number eight Chris Masoe which left the latter seeing stars.
Such an intervention was typical of France’s defensive play but New Zealand broke through just before the half hour following a turnover.
The ball was played to Carter, who offloaded, with play subsequently being fed through Joe Rokocoko and Isaia Toeava before Mauger touched down.
Carter converted, with New Zealand going further ahead when Sivivatu beat Thomas Castaignede in running on to Carter’s chip – the video referee deciding there was no knock on.
Replacement fly-half Nick Evans extended the lead to 23-3 with a penalty three minutes into the second period, with Boyet adding France’s second penalty two minutes later.
Following a break from Piri Weepu, Sivivatu touched down again after 48 minutes, but on this occasion the winger did not find favour with the referee – the result being a French penalty.
With Boyet sin-binned for attempting to make a tackle whilst offside, a cheeky kick from Evans set up Toeava under the posts; however, the centre knocked on.
From the resulting five-metre scrum, however, the inevitable overlap found Sivivatu in plenty of space to touch down a try Evans failed to convert.
The visitors may still have been one man down, but Coux nevertheless ran on to Olivier Magne’s kick to finally respond just before the hour – Nicolas Durand deputising for Boyet and missing the conversion.
But Mauger scored his second and the All Blacks’ fourth just two minutes later after receiving a pass from Sivivatu and sprinting through a gap unopposed.
So’oialo then drove through for the fifth try – Evans converting – with eight minutes remaining.