All Blacks send Pumas packing in Rugby Championship opener
New Zealand step up a gear to run out 39-18 winners in Christchurch
Please click on the link for a selection of photos from the first round of the 2015 Rugby Championship.
The All Blacks ramped up their World Cup preparation on Friday when they made short work of Argentina with a 39-18 victory in their opening Rugby Championship test in Christchurch.
Although still short of their championship best, the All Blacks' five tries-to-two domination was a marked improvement on their ragged warm-up outing against Samoa last week.
One of the pleasing things was we didn’t let them, especially around the fringes, let their big boys make too many inroads
Argentina struggled for much of the game as the All Blacks forwards took the highly touted Pumas pack apart, the backs for the most part held their passes and the defence was rock solid.
"We moved a step forward and from the forwards' point of view we knew it was going to be a good challenge there and for the most part we got that right," said All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.
"One of the pleasing things was we didn't let them, especially around the fringes, let their big boys make too many inroads.
"Bar the couple of drives when they scored I think we looked after them pretty well."