All Blacks grind past Pumas

Beauden Barrett of the All Blacks makes a break during The Rugby Championship match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Argentina. Photo / Getty Images.

NEW ZEALAND 28
ARGENTINA 9

Maybe the All Blacks' victory didn't scream out as convincing tonight, but there was enough there for them to feel they are progressing.

Games against Argentina are never pretty. The rugby tends to be stop-start and they are about as hard as a plastic bag to break down.

The result is all important in these encounters and the All Blacks got one of those. A bonus-point win against the Pumas could be gold down the track.

The big plus for the All Blacks was Beauden Barrett, other than his goal-kicking. Not that anyone particularly had any doubts about him, but he has at least proven categorically he can contribute as much from the start as he can off the bench.

His awareness and composure were the things that stood out most, along with his confidence in choosing his options. Of all the things the coaches wanted him to be, decisive was top of the list.

Israel Dagg made an assured return to the fullback jersey. He made the odd mistake but sue him - it was that kind of night and his booming boot was a weapon the All Blacks used well.

As was Julian Savea. There was a time when being stuck under a high ball on a wet night would have been his idea of hell. Not last night. He was rock solid and injected himself into the game with the power of his running and superb timing. He made both his tries look easy - but it's a major skill to be in the right place at the right time.

Collectively, too, the All Blacks didn't create as many opportunities as they wanted, but they did at least finish the few that they did.

The not-so-good was the scrum. It was under plenty of pressure, got knocked about a fair bit and who would know what was really happening in there?

But at least, and maybe this is all that matters, the Pumas weren't able to produce either the quality of possession or flow of penalties they did against South Africa.

Losing Sam Whitelock to what may have been a serious arm injury didn't help their scrummaging and the Pumas won the battle, for sure, but not to the extent they could cash in on their dominance.

There was even the remarkable sight of an All Black tight-head - sort of - which led to the second try, and the platform set for Aaron Smith's bonus-point score was world class.

The All Blacks' kicking game was an equally mixed picture. The accuracy and volume of their kicking was good. They made most of their kicks contestable. And that was where the problem lay - they didn't fare all that well at the contest.

They didn't win much possession in the air and nor were they always able to put Pumas under all the pressure they should have.

On balance, it was a performance that will seem better in time as the difficulty of the task can't be overstated.

Heavy rain, soft pitch and Argentina - that all made for a bad combination. The Pumas are the ultimate grafters - the best bump and burl team about. Their pack were expectedly smart, and difficult. Their ball carriers never let the All Blacks get a good shot on them.

They shuffled and spun and dodged a bit and generally controlled their possession well. When they did take the contact, it was always on their terms and the All Blacks weren't able to use their individual tackling to intimidate or change the momentum of the contest.

It made them a cussed beast to put away, but put away they were.

New Zealand 28 (J. Savea 2, L. Messam, A. Smith tries; B. Barrett pen; C. Slade pen, con) Argentina 9 (N. Sanchez 3 pens)

Halftime: 13-6.