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Sport | All Blacks

SBW shines in special night for the Barrett whānau

The All Blacks cut loose in the second half of their latest World Cup match, thrashing Canada 63-0.

The game was a special one for the Barrett brothers, who all starting a test together for the first time. They celebrated by scoring a try each in humid conditions.

It was hot and sticky all day in the southern city of Oita, and there were fears that the humidity would affect the handling. For a while in the first half that was the case, especially when Scott Barrett bombed a try with the line open in the first half.

Earlier, after a penalty try off a dominant All Black scrum, Jordie collected a cross kick from Richie Mo’unga to score in the corner. Beauden then pounced on a kick through from Sonny Bill Williams to score near the posts, before Scott got a pass from Kieran Read to walk over early in the second half.

Williams was outstanding in his shift at second five, scoring a try and running at will at the hapless Canadian defenders. There was a touch of his rugby league says straight after halftime, when he burst through the left edge defence and fired a slick hip pass out to Rieko Ioane to score in the corner.

This was Ioane’s big chance to impress after getting overtaken in the pecking order by Sevu Reece and George Bridge. While he scored that try and was genuinely effective, it wasn’t exactly the dominant display he needed to reclaim his top side spot.

One massive positive was the play of Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett, who showed that the idea of having them both on the park at the same time will indeed provide the All Blacks with a seriously deadly attacking mindset. Mo’unga was flawless off the tee as well, landing conversions.

Ardie Savea’s much-talked about goggles lasted about two seconds after he came on, ironically missing when he was involved in a nasty head clash.

Other than that, there were thankfully no apparent injury concerns for Steve Hansen’s side. They now leave Oita and travel back to Tokyo for their next game against Namibia.

All Blacks 63 (B Weber 2, J Barrett, SB Williams, B Barrett, R Ioane, S Barrett, S Frizell tries; penalty try; R Mo’unga 8 con)

Canada 0

HT: 28-0 All Blacks