(Corrects paragraph to 50-game unbeaten streak, not 50th consecutive win)
(Reuters) – New Zealand captain Ardie Savea said the All Blacks had refused to be distracted by their upcoming Rugby Championship clashes with South Africa in their desire to avenge last week’s surprise loss to Argentina when the nations met in Auckland on Saturday.
Scott Robertson’s side bounced back in to style to notch up a 42-10 win over Argentina that extends the All Blacks’ unbeaten streak at their Eden Park stronghold to 50 games and sets up a pair of blockbuster clashes against the Springboks on Aug. 31 and Sept. 7.
“We know how tough it is to go to South Africa, but we wanted to focus on this week, tonight,” said the All Blacks’ forward.
“We did a job. We’ve got a few days at home to recovery, refresh, put some money in the bank and then come together and go to Africa.”
The South Africans lead the early Rugby Championship standings by five points after comprehensive back-to-back wins over Australia while the All Blacks needed to bounce back from a disappointing opening showing against the Pumas.
Will Jordan scored a pair of tries and Damian McKenzie added 17 points to lead the New Zealanders to a comfortable win in wet and wind-swept Auckland that put their campaign back on track.
“We talked about having a response, and we did tonight, especially the first 40,” said Robertson.
“The wetter the better, really. When it dried up, that was when we made it tough on ourselves.
“I’m just really proud that we showed what we’re all about.”
New Zealand’s win was built on a dominant first half display with Robertson’s side holding a 35-3 lead at the interval, leaving the coach disappointed his players were unable to maintain their performance from the opening 40 minutes.
“We wanted to make sure that we finished them off,” said Robertson. “Sometimes it happens (that you don’t).
“The great thing about that is we got Beauden (Barrett) to 10 and Rieko (Ioane) to left wing and got Anton (Lienert-Brown) on. We played the whole squad – we just lost a little bit of rhythm doing it.
“When we got down there, into the 22, we just didn’t finish a couple (of opportunities) off, which would have probably made it a bit sweeter. But the efforts were there that created those opportunities.”
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
