‘Rusty’ All Blacks warm up with 12-try rampage over Samoa

THE All Blacks sent the sternest of warnings to the British and Irish Lions by scoring nearly a point a minute against Samoa eight days before the Test Series begins.

Notoriously rusty for their first hit out of the year, the Kiwis showed little signs of it at Eden Park on Friday night with a masterclass in counter-attacking earning them 12 tries.

Challenged by Samoa’s attacking threts, they spent a lot of time defending but every time the Pacific Islanders dropped a ball or conceded a turnover, the All Blacks were just too quick, too precise, too good and it made for scintillating rugby.

Beauden Barrett and Ardie Savea each grabbed a try-double, with Barrett kicking seven conversions for a haul of 24 points.

“Are we the finished unit yet? Of course we’re not,” said All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen. “There was a fair amount of rust but, as the night went on, their rhythm and connections got better.

“We have been in these situations before and been a lot rustier than that so it was a nice start.”

The All Blacks were 12 minutes in, despite a blatant knock on from No.8 Ardie Savea at the back of the scrum.

Samoa came close to equalising with two searing breaks in midfield as a wrong-footed Sonny Bill Williams twice missed a tackle – offering hope for the Lions midfielders.

Samoa had a third attempt soon after but they dropped the ball and a devastating 90-metre counter attack sparked by Ben Smith saw Barrett score his first try after intervention from Aaron Smith and Williams.

The next two tries came from first phase moves.

First, a slick backs move paved the way for Ardie Savea to score and then Williams simply crashed through on the stroke of half-time for a 28-0 lead.

The onslaught continued after the restart with winger Israel Dagg finishing in the corner and with Samoa clearly tiring from chasing shadows, Julian Savea and Codie Taylor were next to get on the scoresheet.

Barrett grabbed his second try on the hour before replacement loose forward Vaea Fifita crossed just minutes after coming on for his debut.

Further tries in the last nine minutes to TJ Perenara, Ardie Savea and flanker Sam Cane completed the rout