New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said his side “have a lot of work to do” despite dismantling Samoa in a 78-0 victory at Eden Park yesterday.
The hosts ran in 12 tries in a dominant display of attacking rugby in their only warm-up match before they face the British & Irish Lions in a three-Test series that starts next week at the same venue.
Samoa enjoyed most of the possession and territory in the opening 10 minutes before the New Zealanders found their groove.
Hansen put their lethargic start down to a lack of match practice as a team.
“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,” He told Sky Sports 1.
“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 said 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.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Hansen, 58, 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.
“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,” Hansen said.
“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 side for the first time, echoed his 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.”
Samoa coach Alama Ieremia said he had been pleased with his side’s performance for the first half, but once they turned the ball over the All Blacks were ruthless and that was something the Lions would need to be mindful of.
“Good luck to a team that turns the ball over against them,” the former Samoa and All Blacks centre said.
“They really took their opportunities.
“They were pretty impressive in their finishing and any weakness you show you get punished.”
* Press Association
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