New Zealand sent a daunting message to the British and Irish Lions ahead of their first Test at Eden Park next Saturday with a 78-0 victory over Samoa.
Match stats: New Zealand 78-0 Samoa
New Zealand tries: Liernert-Brown (12), Barrett (30, 59), Savea (34, 76), Williams (40), Dagg (42), Savea (52), Taylor (56), Fifita (62), Perenara (72), Cane (79)
Conversions: Barrett (13, 31, 35, 40, 43, 57, 61), Sopoaga (63, 78)
Penalties: ...
Samoa tries: ...
Conversions: ...
Penalties: ...
Match report
New Zealand sent a daunting message to the British and Irish Lions ahead of their first Test at Eden Park next Saturday with a 78-0 victory over Samoa.
The hosts ran in 12 tries in a dominant display of attacking rugby.
The visitors enjoyed most of the possession and territory in the opening 10 minutes before New Zealand found their groove, with Beauden Barrett scoring 24 points, including two tries.
Ardie Savea also scored a brace with further tries from Sonny-Bill Williams, Anton Lienert-Brown, Israel Dagg, Codie Taylor, Julian Savea, Vaea Fifita, TJ Perenara and Sam Cane in a vintage performance by Steve Hansen's side.
Samoa started the contest in blistering fashion with a three-minute rolling attack which brought them within five metres of the Kiwi's try line before a neck roll from Faifili Levave on Ardie Savea brought an end to their early dominance.
New Zealand started to gain momentum and took the lead after opting to take a scrum five metres out. A powerful run off the back by Ardie Savea was halted inches from the whitewash before Barrett darted to the line before offloading inside to Lienert-Brown.
Albert Nikoro missed two long-range penalties for a chance to reduce the deficit before Tim Nanai-Williams broke through the New Zealand defensive line to release Alapati Leiua only for his rushed pass to float straight into touch.
Leiua breached the host's defence once more before a knock-on from outside centre Kieron Fonotia gifted the ball to New Zealand full-back Ben Smith for a break of his own, and following offloads from Aaron Smith and Williams, Barrett kicked the ball on to dive for a fantastic break-away try to extend their lead to 14-0.
New Zealand increased their advantage in their next attack three minutes later following a swift move from the back of a scrum, with number eight Ardie Savea strolling under the posts for his third international try.
Brodie Retallick should have joined the scorers after a neat interchange with Dagg but the lock failed to gather the ball from the return pass with the line at his mercy, before Williams crashed over from close range just before the break to put the Kiwis 28-0 ahead at half-time.
It did not take long for the hosts to cross the whitewash after the break when Lienert-Brown broke past three Samoa defenders, before a fine pass out of the back of his hand found Dagg to touch down for his 25th international score.
The hosts built up pressure on the right wing before switching play to the left, with slick passing which resulted in Julian Savea dotting down for his 46th try for New Zealand.
A quick line-up from Julian Savea and Ben Smith found a gap in the Samoa defence which led to Taylor scoring under the posts.
Two wonderful passing moves lead to Barrett's second try of the match and Fafita's first international Test score.
Perenara was put in for an easy score after supporting the break from fellow substitute Lima Sopoaga to extend their lead further before Ardie Savea sealed a clinical performance with his second and his side's 12th and final try of the match.
Much of the pre-match talk was about the potential historic moment of three brothers playing at the same time for New Zealand after Barrett and siblings Jordie and Scott were all called up, but despite all three featuring they were never on the pitch at the same time.
Post-match reaction
New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen believes his side "have a lot of work to do" despite dismantling Samoa in a 78-0 victory at Eden Park.
He told Sky Sports 1: "The execution went better as the night went on and I wouldn't have thought we were that good at the 20-minute mark, and that's what we expected.
"There was a fair amount of rust and lack of cohesion at times but, as the night went on, their rhythm and connections got better and not a bad hit out for the first one.
"We have been in these situations before and been a lot rustier than that so it was a nice start. It sounds like everyone is pretty good so that's a massive bonus.
"Are we the finished unit yet? Of course we're not. We know that and we have a lot of work to do. And we look forward to watching the Maoris go into the Lions tomorrow night and we get our chance the following Saturday."
Hansen believes the set-piece could be an important part of the first Test in eight days time and praised the impact of the replacements' bench, with seven of New Zealand's 12 tries coming in the second half.
He said: "We were forming new formations and combinations. And with our line-out we sped it up a bit later on and it tightened up, so you've got to be happy.
"The bench, again, has been asked to do things and they showed tonight when they came on. Wyatt (Crockett) and Scott Barrett combined really well and I think they had two nice running lines off the edge and we scored not long after they came on."
The 58-year-old also praised two-try man Ardie Savea, who came in for injured captain Kieran Read, and the fluency between new centre pairing Sonny Bill Williams and Anton Lienert-Brown.
Hensen added: "I thought Ardie did really well. He's not a natural number eight but he showed he can slot in there for us if we need to, but he played well.
"Centres take a bit of time. You don't just go 'bang' and have a combination. You have got to understand each other's plays. Both of them are good offloaders and, at times, probably offloaded too often rather than pass before contact, but you have got to be pleased. Both of them, I think, had excellent performances."
Full-back Ben Smith, who captained the Kiwis for the first time, echoed his head coach's views and pinpointed an improvement on the set-pieces ahead of the clash at Eden Park next week.
"We will look at them for next week," Smith said.
"I'm sure the forwards will go away and have a good look at scrums. That's not my domain but I'm sure they will know a bit more.
"We had to do the basics really well to execute tonight and when we did that, that is when we profited and scored some good tries. We talked about that (earlier in the week).
"It just shows the impact that they (the replacements) bring and it's part of the squad. They come on and really pick up the tempo and bring a lot of energy to our game."
