After two grinding affairs against England to start Scott Robertson’s reign, the All Blacks finally broke free of the shackles as they put on a show by smashing Fiji 47-5 in San Diego on Saturday (AEST).
In a comprehensive performance, Robertson’s side ran in seven tries to one to bring back Mick Byrne’s side to reality after starting their campaign with a win over Georgia earlier this month.
With Beauden Barrett back at fullback, long-time teammate Damian McKenzie put on a show as a host of new faces made eye-catching debuts, including centre Billy Proctor and halfback Cortez Ratima.
Proctor straightened the attack and opened up space for his wingers Caleb Clarke and Sevu Reece, who regularly found space and got on the scoresheet.
Ardie Savea dives over to score against Fiji at Snapdragon Stadium on July 19, 2024 in San Diego. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Cortez’s debut was just as sprightly, but the 23-year-old was forced off late in the first half with concussion after landing hard on the Snapdragon Stadium surface following a strong tackle from behind.
The injury to the Chiefs halfback was the only blemish on what otherwise was a successful outing in California as the All Blacks’ decision to take to the Test to the United States proved a fruitful one in front of a packed crowd.
The Flying Fijians were anything but embarrassed.
Vilimoni Botitu scored a stunning early try after bursting onto a lovely offload from Semi Radradra, who took a pin-point cross-field kick from Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula before unleashing his fullback.
The Flying Fijians also made six clean breaks and beat 26 New Zealand defenders but were regularly let down by the final pass going to ground.
As promising as Fiji’s attack was, the All Blacks’ was better as they regularly cut their opponents open.
With dominance at both the scrum and lineout, recalled midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown made a statement.
World Cup-winning All Blacks winger Sir John Kirwan said Robertson would sleep better after the improved showing.
“I think Scott Robertson will be going, yep, I took the risk and put a lot of young guys out there and changed some positional stuff – Damian stepped in and played better than last week with his accuracy – so he’ll sleep way better tonight,” he said on Sky Sport.
“They looked so calm under pressure. But what we’re also trying to achieve as a team is selection pressure. These debutants came on and said, ‘I’m here.’”
Kirwan wasn’t entirely right, with captain Scott Barrett and Robertson calling for a more ruthless edge.
“It wasn’t fully polished, we’ve got pretty high standards in this team, we got our noses through a few times and Fiji were able to get their hands on the ball and turn it over at times. But we created enough time to turn it into points,” Barrett said.
After two hard-fought wins over England, Robertson made 11 changes for the Test and gave debuts to six players.
The seven-time Super Rugby-winning coach said it was pleasing to see his next generation of players shine in what was a much more physical encounter than the scoreboard suggested, but too asked for more polish in their finishing.
“I’m really pleased with the six debutants,” Robertson said. “They all played their part, didn’t they? Noah went on early.
“That was a physical Test match, those guys came off and it was every bit as physical as [the] England Tests. They just didn’t go away Fiji. We’ve got to be better at finishing, we created so much but kept them in it for a long period of time by not executing.”
Damian McKenzie was back to his best against Fiji as Scott Robertson’s selections came off in San Diego. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
Fiji skipper Waisea Nayacalevu said his side simply couldn’t stick with the All Blacks.
“Tough match,” the outside centre said.
“We know New Zealand is capable of anything. We trained hard this week but we couldn’t execute our plays and they put us under pressure.
“It was tough when we were losing momentum and had players running into us. We couldn’t achieve what we wanted on our defence but credit to the boys for their effort and fighting for the full 80 minutes.”
On a lovely clear day for rugby, the All Blacks started with pace and quickly turned it on against their cousins.
Caleb Clarke crossed for the opening try in the ninth minute, before Ratima went himself from close range and crossed four minutes later. After McKenzie brought his kicking boots with him, the early tries saw the All Blacks open up a 14-0 lead.
Botitu hit back in stunning fashion moments later, but their joy was short lived as Ardie Savea went to work by pumping his legs.
The strong foundation up front allowed Proctor to find some open space out wide and dive over out wide to restore their 14-point lead after 26 minutes.
After not quite hitting his straps against England, the reigning World Rugby player of the year Savea exploded back into form as he scored from close range soon after.
While Reece scored early in the second half, the All Blacks were made to work hard for their next two tries to Ethan de Groot and hooker George Bell.
McKenzie finished the evening with 12 points, slotting six conversions.
Robertson said he was pleased with their fight, particularly in defence.
“You can get frustrated because we left a couple out of there but you’ve got to be really proud of what the guys did at key points; scrambled back, put their heads over the ball, scrum penalties when we needed them,” he said.
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