It was South Africa on the receiving end tonight, as the world champions scored six tries to claim a 41-13 win in Christchurch.
Yet it could have been more. For all the front-foot ball and field position the All Blacks had in the first half, the 15-10 scoreline was fairly underwhelming. Mistakes crept into their game, while the Springboks scrambled well to prevent the All Blacks turning their pressure into points.
But it is hard to complain too much. As is becoming expected, the All Blacks wore their opponents down and piled on the points in a dominant second half.
They still managed two classy tries in that first 40, with both wingers going over in their corners. Israel Dagg scored the first after a nice set-up from the scrum saw Aaron Smith switch directions on the second phase and throw a cut out ball to Dane Coles. Coles showed a slick pair of hands to shovel it on to Dagg, who was unmarked in the corner.
Coles was prominent in the open all night and threw the final pass for three tries, while making several good runs in space. He took a gap and offloaded to Julian Savea to set up the second try, while later in the second half he threw a 25m cut out pass to put Sam Whitelock over in the left corner. The pass was yet another show of the skill set the New Zealand forwards possess, something which separates them from the rest of the world.
It was not just out wide that the All Blacks threatened though, finding plenty of space around the fringes. Aaron Smith delivered a top performance, sniping dangerously, passing well and providing energy around the park. One of his snipes, which saw him run 20m through a gaping hole, resulted in him throwing a superb offload out the back of his left hand to Ardie Savea, who went on to score.
When TJ Perenara came on he continued the threat, scoring a try of his own after sniping from the base of the scrum.
The Springboks, for their part, did not do enough to threaten. They made too many mistakes and rarely looked capable of creating opportunities.
Bryan Habana ran a nice angle and timed his run well from deep to score the first try of the game, but there were few other memorable moments for the South Africans.
Habana's try gave the Springboks a 7-3 lead, but Dagg's try, which came from a Springbok mistake at the next kick-off, saw the All Blacks restore a lead they would never relinquish.