Wellington centre Robert Fruean scored a hat-trick of tries as New Zealand opened their world under-19 rugby championship campaign with a 37-14 victory over Wales in Belfast this morning (NZtime).
Fruean scored his tries in the second, seventh and 13th minutes with Trent Renata converting one.
First fiveRenata kicked a penalty in the 39th minute to give New Zealand a 20-7 halftime lead at the Ravenhill ground.
New Zealand, who finished runners-up to Australia in last year's championship, got a scare as Wales rallied with Gareth Owen and Ryan Bevington scoring converted tries on either side of the breather.
But the Baby Blacks eased to victory as Kade Poki, Ryan Crotty and Luke Braid added second-half tries.
New Zealand team manager Mike Sandle told NZPA from Belfast this morning it was pleasing to get the first match of the campaign off with a win, but there was a lot of work ahead.
"Robert Fruean certainly played well, but it was a typical first up test as we haven't played a lot of rugby recently.
"We had periods when we dominated in all phases across the park but we couldn't sustain it," said Sandle who added the team had come thorough without any injury worries for their next match against Japan at the Belfast Harlequins ground on Tuesday morning (NZtime).
"We are happy to get a bonus-point win but we realise that there's lots of areas in our game we need to work on," he said.
The Wales-New Zealand game also made history as Australian touch judge Sarah Corr became the first female official at any men's World Cup tournament.
In other Division A games, South Africa beat Fiji 36-5, Argentina beat Japan 41-8, Australia beat Ireland 15-10, France beat Scotland 11-6 and England beat Samoa 20-12.
New Zealand 34 (Robert Fruean 3, Kade Poki, Ryan Crotty, Luke Braid tries, Trent Renata pen, con, Daniel Kirkpartick con) Wales 14 (Gareth Owen, Ryan Bevington tries, Leigh Halfpenny con, Daniel Evans con). Halftime: 20-7.
