All Blacks thump France to win series with game to spare

New Zealand (29) 43

Tries: Roigard, Savea, Taylor, Jordan, Vaa’i, Ioane Cons: B Barrett 4, J Barrett Pen: B Barrett

France (3) 17

Hosts New Zealand thumped France 43-17 to win the second Test in Wellington and clinch the series with a game to spare.

The All Blacks laboured to a 31-27 win over France in Dunedin last week but were comfortable winners on Saturday, running in six tries at Sky Stadium.

Scott Robertson’s side led 29-3 at half-time before Six Nations champions France, who travelled south without most of their first-choice players, claimed two tries in the second half.

“This week we talked about our defence,” said All Blacks captain Ardie Savea. “We wanted to bring fire there and I think we did that in most parts of the game.”

Fly-half Beauden Barrett kicked an early penalty for the All Blacks before the first three tries came from attacking line-outs, with scrum-half Cam Roigard flashing down the blind-side to open the scoring on 14 minutes.

Barrett was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on but the hosts continued to attack and Savea pounced on a line-out ball to wrestle his way over for his 29th Test try, meaning he has overtaken Richie McCaw as New Zealand’s most prolific try-scoring forward.

Hooker Codie Taylor crossed on 29 minutes on the back of a more traditional rolling maul, with France’s pack short-handed after debutant lock Josh Brennan – the Toulouse-raised son of former Ireland forward Trevor Brennan – had been sin-binned for a tip tackle.

Offloads by Savea, Rieko Ioane and Netherlands-born lock Fabian Holland then set flanker Tupou Vaa’i free up the middle to score the pick of the tries and put the hosts firmly in charge at the break.

France replied with full-back Leo Barre taking advantage of an All Blacks error to score a 47th-minute try, although New Zealand full-back Will Jordan produced a similar score shortly after for his 41st try from 43 Tests.

The All Blacks extended their lead to 43-10 when winger Ioane dived over in the corner on 62 minutes before Brennan crossed for the tourists with three minutes left.

“There was a lot of polish,” said New Zealand coach Scott Robertson. “I thought we were ruthless in most parts of the game and allowed our backs to finish things off.”