The All Blacks’ 74-6 trouncing of the US Eagles revealed a great gulf.

The All Blacks’ 74-6 trouncing of the US Eagles revealed a great gulf between the world’s No 1 and 18th ranked teams, but the American coach believes the gap can close.

Speaking after the match played in front of 62,000 rugby fans at Soldier Field in Chicago, Eagles coach Mike Tolkin responded to questions asking how long it might take the Eagles to be on an even footing with the defending World Cup champions.

”I don’t see it being decades,” Tolkin said.

”Maybe it’s wishful thinking,” he added, ”but I see the athletes there and the guys who have been professionals and the way they’ve performed. So hopefully, it will be a lot less (time) than that.”

It was just the third official test between the two countries, and the first on US soil in 34 years, and the Eagles had plenty of hope they could show some competitiveness in front of the national television audience. It turned out to be a lopsided affair, but the full house very much enjoyed the test – right to the final hooter.

It was exhilarating stuff from the New Zealanders as they opened up gaps seemingly at will in the midfield channels and badly exposed the flagging American defence out wide. Their handling and support play was top class as they attacked the Americans mercilessly nearly every time they got the ball.

”We got punished,” USA captain Todd Clever said after the match.

All Blacks captain Kieran Read was respectful in his post-match comments saying the Americans were no walk-over.

”They’re a big, physical team, and they did put us under a little bit of pressure when they had the ball,” Read said.

”Once we got into the game, though, and looked after the ball a bit better, it worked for us and the guys were able to showcase their skills.”

The All Blacks’ injury toll from the match also suggested a toughness in the physical encounters with serious looking injuries to Nathan Harris (ankle), Cory Jane (hamstring) and Sonny Bill Williams (hip).

The sight of Williams limping off after a destructive display in his first test in over two years was a disappointing end to an otherwise exhilarating return to the 15-man code for the code-hopping superstar. After the match, Williams was upbeat about his performance.

”When the boys were dominating up front like they were, it was awesome to just run off the back of that,” Williams said.

”I’ve come back a bit raw but I’m just trying to improve each week.”

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen was hopeful Williams and Harris would shake off their injuries, but has confirmed Jane’s injury was a likely tear, putting him in doubt for the remaining three tests of the tour.

On the whole, Hansen was happy with the All Blacks’ performance.

”In a game like this you would expect one or two errors to creep into the game but they stayed on task and we scored some lovely tries,” Hansen said.

”It was a great way to start the tour and we have got a result on the board and now it’s off to England to get the job done there.”

MATCH HIGHS AND LOWS

There was an encouraging second-half cameo from Dan Carter in his first test in a year, with the master five-eighth making two or three brilliant breaks to show his sharpness is very much still there. For the record, he came through unscathed too – possibly the best news of all.

Williams, midfield partner Ryan Crotty, skipper Kieran Read, and outside backs Jane, Israel Dagg, Charles Piutau and Julian Savea all showcased their skills in a free-flowing contest, while some of the forwards like Patrick Tuipulotu, Charlie Faumuina, Sam Cane and Keven Mealamu also enjoyed the chance to show off the range of their abilities with ball in hand.

The Americans, on the back of just five training sessions, never had the organisation to repel the All Blacks. They did, though, manage some nice periods when they were able to keep ball in hand and use their physicality to good effect.

The All Blacks ran in seven first-half tries to lead 43-6 at the break. Remarkably the Americans had the lion’s share of possession (63 per cent) and territory (64 per cent) but simply had no answer to the New Zealanders’ crisp play with ball in hand.

The US defence was creampuff soft – a description which is probably being unfair to the solidity of creampuffs. And when you fall off tackles, leave holes the proverbial mile wide to be outnumbered by an All Blacks side in this sort of mood, well, the scoreboard certainly ticks over regularly.

Williams scored two of the All Blacks’ seven first-half touchdowns to mark an exhilarating return to the black jersey after a more than two-year absence. He and Crotty carved up the Americans in midfield like they were turkeys at Thanksgiving and the sight of the sport’s super athlete dashing 50 metres and leaving two American defenders in a mad tangle of disarray was indeed something to behold.

The scores came thick and fast, especially once the Americans came up with nothing more than a penalty to show from a nice period of pressure around the 10-minute mark.

Hooker Nathan Harris opened things up with a nice finish in the corner shortly before limping off with ligament damage in his ankle, and Cory Jane unleashed the dummy and fend as he made it 12-3 around the quarter-hour mark.

After that it was all too easy as Patrick Tuipulotu, Williams (twice), Charles Piutau and Julian Savea (with his first touch of the ball off the bench) all got in on the scoring act.

After the break the scores kept coming. Joe Moody re-enacted Tony Woodcock’s World Cup final try from a lineout; Aaron Cruden (who had a miserable day with the boot, landing just four of nine shots at goal) finished from a gem of an inside ball from Mealamu; Dagg cashed in on Carter’s first break; Cane charged through some flimsy defence one off the ruck; and Savea finished it all off via a peach of a flick pass from Victor Vito.

New Zealand 74 (Nathan Harris, Cory Jane, Patrick Tuipulotu, Sonny Bill Williams 2, Charles Piutau, Julian Savea 2, Joe Moody, Aaron Cruden, Israel Dagg, Sam Cane tries; Aaron Cruden 4 cons; Dan Carter 3 cons), USA 6(Adam Siddall 2 pens). Ht: 43-6.

– Stuff