Coach Steve Hansen gave his rearranged All Blacks a pass mark after their 46-24 victory over a much-improved Argentinian side, but concedes that they weren’t as good as they should have been.
Hansen made eight changes to his starting line-up for the third-round Rugby Championship match, saying he needed to see how less experienced squad members could handle pressure if called up for next year’s World Cup.
The situation was not helped by losing star lock Brodie Retallick and centre Ngani Laumape early in the match and having Ben Smith off the field for a 10-minute head injury assessment, which forced a rethink of how to handle the bench in the second half.
But the All Blacks outscored Argentina six tries to three for a bonus-point victory that Hansen says was imperfect but showed a lot of resilience.
Hansen explains: “We expect to play well and we expect to win well, and even when we make changes, like we have, those expectations don’t change.
“We got the opportunity to blood some young men and they got put under pressure by a good Argentinian side.
“I thought they played particularly well at times and put us under pressure so we had to show a lot of mental fortitude.”
Hansen says the fact Argentina scored three tries showed the All Blacks’ defensive work “wasn’t as good as it could have been, but every time they scored we came back and that showed a lot of strength of character”.
New Zealand – Tries: Nehe Milner-Skudder, TJ Perenara (2), Kieran Read, Shannon Frizell and Jack Goodhue; Conversions: Richie Mo’unga (5); Penalties: Mo’unga (2).
Argentina – Tries: Ramiro Moyano, Nicholas Sanchez and Emiliano Boffelli; Conversions: Sanchez (3); Penalty: Sanchez.