New Zealand (13) 28 / 9 (6) Argentina

It was never going to be pretty, but the All Blacks will find plenty to admire when they look back on a 28-9 win over Argentina.

Steve Hansen’s side delivered enough to keep their coach smiling as they ran in four tries to remain unbeaten in this year’s Rugby Championship.

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The Pumas were not quite the monster under the bed their opening two efforts had suggested, but they provided a satisfyingly rugged dress rehearsal for next week’s test against South Africa.

All things considered this was a decent All Black performance in tricky conditions.

Errant goal kicking aside, Beauden Barrett passed his first test as a starting No 10 with flying colours, while Israel Dagg had enough moments to cause further debate about who is currently the best option to start at fullback.

The All Black tight five stood up to the vaunted Pumas scrum and even turned it on its head to score the decisive try of the night, to blindside Liam Messam, as they grabbed a tight head on the stroke of halftime.

By the time No 8 Kieran Read fed a simple pass to halfback Aaron Smith for the final try of the test in the 72nd minute, the Pumas were looking more than a little jaded.

The bonus point try came after wing Julian Savea had added two tries, either side of halftime, to his incredible tally, which now stands at 26 from just 25 tests.

Injuries to Sam Whitelock (ribs) and Liam Messam will need further assessment, but their replacements Jeremy Thrush and Sam Cane acquitted themselves well as the All Black machine showed its resilient side yet again.

An expectant Napier crowd probably knew patience would be needed as they walked through driving rain to a stadium pumped for its first test since 1996.

But they got plenty of bang for their buck on a wet and slippery night that cleared just enough for the home side to play some attractive enough rugby.

All eyes were on Barrett in his first test as a starting No 10, and Dagg, the hometown hero.

Dagg had a couple of fumbles and an errant pass, but in tricky conditions showed his value as an all rounder with some nice defensive saves, a probing counter and some huge punts.

Barrett had a nervy start and had an off night with his goal kicking (one of five attempts), but provided plenty of evidence of why he is such an exciting attacking prospect.

He had a hand in the All Blacks first three tries via a kick, a rocket run and a deft pass.

The All Blacks first try was a cracker. It was sparked by Dagg, who ran straight and hard on the counter, before hooker Dane Coles’ leg drive put the Pumas on the back foot.

Barrett grubbered, lock Brodie Retallick expertly dived in to recover the ball going forward, and centre Conrad Smith dabbed a left foot grubber to the corner.

The end result was Savea sliding in for the try and a 8-3 lead.

Then came the killer blow. Barrett shot into space on the stroke of halftime as though he’d been fired from a canon, then expertly ran Liam Messam in for the try and a 13-6 lead.

It was a dagger blow to the Pumas. Their vaunted scrum had coughed up a tight head as the siren went for halftime and what could have been a satisfying 8-6 scoreline, inflated to more ominous figures.

They struggled to recover. The All Blacks crushed them after the break when Savea glided off the blindside wing and on to a perfect Barrett pass to fly inside the drifting defence to make it 18-6.

By the time the Taranaki pivot was subbed for Colin Slade with 25 minutes to play he’d done enough to earn trust for bigger future assignments.

Up front it was brutal stuff from the South Americans. Whitelock left with a rib injury before the half hour mark, Read complained of being strangled from behind, while Retallick got a boot to the face trying to charge halfback Martin Landajo’s clearing kick.

Argentina were in no hurry to get to lineouts or pack down scrums as they cleverly ground the pace of the game down to one where they could compete on equal footing.

The Pumas surprised the All Blacks by using the ball in hand from their own quarter, but also got themselves into plenty of trouble when an early kick might have been the better option.

They had a long hill to climb by halftime and to their credit they hung tough. Openside Juan Manuel Luguizamon deserved a try when he was called back for a knock on after charging down a Nonu chip kick on the 22.

And Sanchez’s third penalty made it 18-9 with 17 minutes to play before a Slade penalty and Smith’s try blew out the margin.

All Blacks 28 (Julian Savea 2, Liam Messam, Aaron Smith tries, Beauden Barrett pen, Colin Slade pen) Argentina 9 (Nicolas Sanchez 3 pen). HT: 13-6.

MVP: Julian Savea – What can you say about a guy who scores tries with the regularity most of us eat breakfast. The big All Blacks wing now has 26 from 25 tests, a remarkable statistic. showed pace and anticipation for his first try, timing for his second and . Throw in accuracy in contact and under the high ball and good defence and you have a complete performance.

Turning point: A tight head on the stroke of halftime provided a hammer blow to the Pumas confidence. Their vaunted scrum coughed up possession and Beauden Barrett shot into space to feed a flying Liam Messam, who slid in for the All Blacks second try. Suddenly the visitor’s respectable 8-6 deficit had inflated out to an imposing 13-6 halftime scoreline.

Match ranking: 7 – This was never going to be a try fest, but the All Blacks provided plenty of entertainment to score four in difficult conditions. Argentina provided a rugged, but inaccurate opponent as they tried to mix their traditional forward strength with slightly awkward, at times, efforts to run the ball from their own half. The All Blacks scrum came through with flying colours and the backs provided the finishing touches.

Australia (11) 24 / 23 (14) South Africa

The Wallabies have capitalised on a late yellow card to Springboks winger Bryan Habana in his 100th Test to steal an epic 24-23 victory at the death in Perth.

Flyhalf Bernard Foley kicked his second match-winning goal in as many months after super-sub Kurtley Beale helped spark the 10-point comeback on Saturday to end the Springboks’ eight-match winning streak.

With the Wallabies looking down and out at 23-14 behind with 15 minutes to go, Habana – who had been dangerous all night – was harshly sin-binned for an apparent high tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper.

Springboks captain Jean de Villiers pleaded with Irish referee George Clancy not to bin his teammate but it was to no avail.

Beale came on soon after to exploit the numerical advantage and earn a penalty, then combined with the Waratahs-laden backline to put Horne over in the 78th minute.

Foley, who had a mixed night in his first international outing with halves partner Nick Phipps in wet and windy conditions, then stepped up to the plate to nail a conversion 10 metres in from the sideline.

The win keeps the Mandela Challenge Plate alive, and shows the Wallabies aren’t the easybeats the All Blacks made them out to be at Eden Park two weeks ago.

And while it wasn’t scintillating end-to-end rugby, it was about as entertaining as one could have hoped for on a thoroughly saturated Patersons Stadium.

The Wallabies got off to a flyer after a leaping Israel Folau regained the kick-off.

And like he’s done so many times this season Folau finished what he started, running onto a low pass from a cool-headed Matt Toomua to cross after just 90 seconds.

Much of the visitor’s early territorial dominance was due to a strong tail wind, and they made the most of it by plugging the corners and pinning the Australians in their own territory.

The tactics worked, and the Springboks absorbed the shock start through a Morne Steyn penalty goal, then hit the front through a well constructed try to winger Cornal Hendricks.

The sides then traded two penalty goals apiece for the Boks to go up 14-11 at halftime.

While the Wallabies played the more enterprising rugby, they fell just short of being rewarded for their efforts when Ashley-Cooper lost the ball over the tryline while diving for a Toomua grubber.

The Wallabies had the strong breeze in their favour in the second half, but quickly lost their bundle, extremely poor kicking and basic errors quickly negating any advantage.

The Wallabies’ scrum was then put under severe pressure from the Boks, directly costing them two penalty goals on the back of Steyn’s reliable boot.

But Habana’s yellow card soon turned the match on its head, Australia coming from behind for a historic win.

Australia 24 (Israel Folau, Rob Horne tries Bernard Foley con 4 pens) South Africa 23 (Cornal Hendricks try Morne Steyn 6 pens) at Patersons Stadium. Referee: George Clancy. Crowd: 25,718