New Zealand beat Argentina 36-17 to make it five bonus-point victories from five and continue their fine run of unbeatable form in this year’s Rugby Championship. A 29-3 halftime score blew away the hosts, despite them then putting up a second half fightback.
Tries were scored by Anton Lienert-Brown, Ryan Crotty, Dane Coles and TJ Perenara in the first half before Ben Smith scored their fifth and final try shortly after the break.
The Rugby Championship was already secured before kickoff, but another impressive win takes them to 16 straight victories, just one short of the record jointly held by themselves (1965-69, 2013-14) and South Africa (1997-98).
New Zealand coach Steve Hansen was not pleased with the second half discipline though.
“Argentina came out and made it difficult and the referee felt we were ill-disciplined and penalised us with two guys in the bin,” Hansen said. “It was pretty frustrating after such a good first half where I thought we attacked and defended well, played our game.”
The All Blacks will travel to Durban where the Springboks wait, while Argentina head to London to face Australia, in a first ever Rugby Championship match in the northern hemisphere.
Tickets for the match are available via ticketmaster for just £20.
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