All Blacks plenty to admire on a 28-9 win over Argentina.

It was never going to be pretty, but the All Blacks will find plenty to admire when they look back on a 28-9 win over Argentina.

Steve Hansen’s side delivered enough to keep their coach smiling as they ran in four tries to remain unbeaten in this year’s Rugby Championship.

The Pumas were not quite the monster under the bed their opening two efforts had suggested, but they provided a satisfyingly rugged dress rehearsal for next week’s test against South Africa.

All things considered this was a decent All Black performance in tricky conditions.

Errant goal kicking aside, Beauden Barrett passed his first test as a starting No 10 with flying colours, while Israel Dagg had enough moments to cause further debate about who is currently the best option to start at fullback.

The All Black tight five stood up to the vaunted Pumas scrum and even turned it on its head to score the decisive try of the night, to blindside Liam Messam, as they grabbed a tight head on the stroke of halftime.

By the time No 8 Kieran Read fed a simple pass to halfback Aaron Smith for the final try of the test in the 72nd minute, the Pumas were looking more than a little jaded.

The bonus point try came after wing Julian Savea had added two tries, either side of halftime, to his incredible tally, which now stands at 26 from just 25 tests.

Injuries to Sam Whitelock (ribs) and Liam Messam will need further assessment, but their replacements Jeremy Thrush and Sam Cane acquitted themselves well as the All Black machine showed its resilient side yet again.

An expectant Napier crowd probably knew patience would be needed as they walked through driving rain to a stadium pumped for its first test since 1996.

But they got plenty of bang for their buck on a wet and slippery night that cleared just enough for the home side to play some attractive enough rugby.

All eyes were on Barrett in his first test as a starting No 10, and Dagg, the hometown hero.

Dagg had a couple of fumbles and an errant pass, but in tricky conditions showed his value as an all rounder with some nice defensive saves, a probing counter and some huge punts.

Barrett had a nervy start and had an off night with his goal kicking (one of five attempts), but provided plenty of evidence of why he is such an exciting attacking prospect.

He had a hand in the All Blacks first three tries via a kick, a rocket run and a deft pass.

The All Blacks first try was a cracker. It was sparked by Dagg, who ran straight and hard on the counter, before hooker Dane Coles’ leg drive put the Pumas on the back foot.

Barrett grubbered, lock Brodie Retallick expertly dived in to recover the ball going forward, and centre Conrad Smith dabbed a left foot grubber to the corner.

The end result was Savea sliding in for the try and a 8-3 lead.

Then came the killer blow. Barrett shot into space on the stroke of halftime as though he’d been fired from a canon, then expertly ran Liam Messam in for the try and a 13-6 lead.

It was a dagger blow to the Pumas. Their vaunted scrum had coughed up a tight head as the siren went for halftime and what could have been a satisfying 8-6 scoreline, inflated to more ominous figures.

They struggled to recover. The All Blacks crushed them after the break when Savea glided off the blindside wing and on to a perfect Barrett pass to fly inside the drifting defence to make it 18-6.

By the time the Taranaki pivot was subbed for Colin Slade with 25 minutes to play he’d done enough to earn trust for bigger future assignments.

Up front it was brutal stuff from the South Americans. Whitelock left with a rib injury before the half hour mark, Read complained of being strangled from behind, while Retallick got a boot to the face trying to charge halfback Martin Landajo’s clearing kick.

Argentina were in no hurry to get to lineouts or pack down scrums as they cleverly ground the pace of the game down to one where they could compete on equal footing.

The Pumas surprised the All Blacks by using the ball in hand from their own quarter, but also got themselves into plenty of trouble when an early kick might have been the better option.

They had a long hill to climb by halftime and to their credit they hung tough. Openside Juan Manuel Luguizamon deserved a try when he was called back for a knock on after charging down a Nonu chip kick on the 22.

And Sanchez’s third penalty made it 18-9 with 17 minutes to play before a Slade penalty and Smith’s try blew out the margin.

All Blacks 28 (Julian Savea 2, Liam Messam, Aaron Smith tries, Beauden Barrett pen, Colin Slade pen) Argentina 9 (Nicolas Sanchez 3 pen). HT: 13-6.

SNAPSHOT

MVP: Julian Savea – What can you say about a guy who scores tries with the regularity most of us eat breakfast. The big All Blacks wing now has 26 from 25 tests, a remarkable statistic. showed pace and anticipation for his first try, timing for his second and . Throw in accuracy in contact and under the high ball and good defence and you have a complete performance.

Turning point: A tight head on the stroke of halftime provided a hammer blow to the Pumas confidence. Their vaunted scrum coughed up possession and Beauden Barrett shot into space to feed a flying Liam Messam, who slid in for the All Blacks second try. Suddenly the visitor’s respectable 8-6 deficit had inflated out to an imposing 13-6 halftime scoreline.

Match ranking: 7 – This was never going to be a try fest, but the All Blacks provided plenty of entertainment to score four in difficult conditions. Argentina provided a rugged, but inaccurate opponent as they tried to mix their traditional forward strength with slightly awkward, at times, efforts to run the ball from their own half. The All Blacks scrum came through with flying colours and the backs provided the finishing touches.

– Stuff