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As experiments go, New Zealand playing Portugal was a bit like putting an egg in a microwave.
The outcome was never in any doubt and the whole process was about the timing and size of the explosion.
Just how long would it take to scrape up the remnants
of Portugal and would things get so bad, that they would be splattered into places no one had ever imagined?
If the All Blacks had the power, they would have told the IRB to get stuffed, that the World Cup is no place for such pointless exercises.
Blowing up eggs is a hollow thrill, a two-second kick that in no way stacks up as worthwhile when the extent of the cleaning job becomes apparent.
But, sadly, the IRB love a juvenile prank and just as sadly they have the power so the All Blacks had to go through with this nonsense.
it took all of three minutes for the egg to explode when Joe Rokocoko sliced through for the opening try.
For the next 20 minutes there was some hope that Portugal were going to offer an unexpectedly fine line in resistance. Or at least some sloppy, casual work by the All Blacks was going to prevent things getting ugly.
Slowly, though, the All Blacks tightened the screw. The accuracy and timing kicked in and all of a sudden it was raining tries.
After half an hour, when the score reached 40-3, the cleaning job looked ominously big.
Not that All Black coach Graham Henry will give two hoots about that. His objectives for the day didn't include piecing together the shattered Portuguese.
As always, the All Black No 1 priority was to escape from Lyon with no casualties, which they failed to do. Mils Muliaina lasted only a minute before the sniper got him and he spent the afternoon on the bench with an ice pack on his hamstring.
He stayed on for a couple of minutes after he felt the initial tug so the likelihood is the damage is not too severe.
As a consolation, Conrad Smith's suspect hamstring held out.
What else the selectors wanted to see was a big work rate from Sione Lauaki. The big man is here with a specific brief to come off the bench in the later rounds and ignore the things that might get in his way.
The only problem is, though, Lauaki only needs to look at a creme brulee and his conditioning drops. To fulfil his role he needs to be match fit and for someone Lauaki's size, the aerobic challenge of playing in a fast and furious try fest under a feisty mid-day sun is significant.
So other than Muliaina, the All Blacks ticked all the boxes.
As for Portugal, they will no doubt claim they, too, got all they wanted from the test. The inevitable claims of this test being one in which they learned heaps will be made in the days to come.
How this knowledge can be applied when they return home and continue playing the likes of Holland, Estonia and Spain remains a mystery.
The IRB were the only ones that had anything worthwhile to learn in Lyon yesterday - cut the next World Cup to 16 teams and put an end to these mismatches.
