All Blacks ease their way to championship win

Winger Ioane pitches in with two tries against Pumas

New Zealand won their third straight Rugby Championship title on Saturday after two tries from winger Rieko Ioane helped them to a 35-17 victory over Argentina in Velez Sarsfield.

The bonus-point win clinched the title — a 16th in the various versions of the Southern Hemisphere championship — with a game to spare for the world champions in what was a scrappy but well-deserved victory.

New Zealand, looking to bounce back after a home loss to South Africa two weeks ago, went behind to a Nicolas Sanchez penalty after just five minutes, but after Ioane put the visitors ahead two minutes later, they never looked back.

Waisake Naholo went over in 16 minutes, Ioane scored the All Blacks’ third 11 minutes before half time and Beauden Barrett then put away all three conversions as Argentina’s handling errors contributed to a 21-3 deficit at the break.

All Blacks captain Sam Whitelock said their first try set them on their way. “I thought that we started really well, didn’t have the ball in the first bit, but when we got our first opportunity we scored and the boys really took that and built as the game went on,” he added.

Sonny Bill Williams was given a yellow card four minutes before half-time, but the home side could not take advantage and replacement Patrick Tuipulotu added a fourth New Zealand try, converted again by Barrett, after 54 minutes.

That sparked a mini-revival by the home side as first scrum-half Tomas Cubelli and then Emiliano Boffelli scored tries, both of which were converted by Sanchez, who had a poor night by his standards, missing one easy penalty early in the first half.

New Zealand got a fifth try when replacement Anton Lienert-Brown chased down a kick with eight minutes left.

The win lifted the All Blacks to 21 points, seven more than South Africa, who beat Australia 23-12 in Port Elizabeth earlier on Saturday. It also extended New Zealand’s unbeaten run against the Pumas to 28 games.