New Zealand 47 Tonga 9
New Zealand duly booked their quarter-final place but the world champions are still to shake off the ring rust and look to have lost their veteran prop Tony Woodcock.
Ahead of them in Cardiff lie the losers of Sunday’s Pool D meeting between France and Ireland and both have given the All Blacks headaches in the past. Against Ireland in Dublin a year ago New Zealand just scraped home, while France have a history of upsetting the All Black apple cart at World Cups.
Not that the All Black coach, Steve Hansen, seemed particularly worried about his side's form so far: "How you play at the moment doesn't mean anything. What's happening now is irrelevant. What happens next week will be," said Hansen. "Its about maintaining performances from here on in."
New Zealand have eight days to put things right, and shake off Friday’s bumps and bruises, although that probably will not be long enough for Woodcock. After saying that more would be known about the prop’s torn hamstring on Saturday, Hansen added: “It doesn’t look as though he’ll be OK. If this is the end of his tournament it is a poor way for a great All Black to finish.”
Eleven points down at the interval, Tonga continued to give the favourites a tough time, reducing the lead by three, but almost immediately the Blacks struck back and two tries in six minutes from the wing Nehe Milner-Skudder ended the game if not the contest.
Bonus point in the bag, New Zealand emptied their bench and finally went through the gears, the most delicate of inside balls putting in Sonny Bill Williams before Sam Cane added a sixth, all converted by Dan Carter before the man of the night Ma'a Nonu finally had his say.
With England still struggling to find a midfield partnership that is still happy and effective in each other’s company for more than 100 minutes, New Zealand emphasised the settled nature of their squad by handing Nonu his 100th cap and pairing him with Conrad Smith for the 59th time. Nonu, possibly the man the England coach Stuart Lancaster thought of when he decided to give Sam Burgess the No12 shirt, is very much the All Blacks’ weapon of choice. But it was not always so. Nonu arrived on the scene as something of a one-trick pony, pretty good at running through walls, but struggling to offer more until he added a side-step, a decent pass and something of a kicking game. According to coach Steve Hansen he has become a leader as well: “He doesn’t say a lot, but when he does speak it’s right on the money.”
Not that he was given much chance to do a lot of speaking early on, the Tongans dishing out what they dish out best and the All Black midfield, completed by 109-cap Carter, seeing plenty of the action although it was at its smooth best for the first try. Carter, Nonu and Smith made the most of a lineout turnover and after only 13 minutes the full-back Ben Smith was cruising in for the first five points, another two added by Carter who has missed a few recently.
Nerves settled, Carter did everything right for what looked like a certain second try, but the wing Waisake Naholo fumbled, taking an early black mark in his competition with Milner-Skudder to partner Julian Savea in the quarter final. Not that it mattered. The wing did everything right six minutes later, coming on to another Carter pass to make the dent that Woodcock capitalised on.
Again Carter had no trouble and after 30 minutes New Zealand were 14-3 up, although not all the rust had disappeared. The All Black pack had been under a bit of pressure for most of the evening and ended the half distinctly on the back foot. First the captain Kieran Read was sent to the sin-bin for pulling down the maul, then the scrum was twice penalised under its own posts but the defence just held out with the help of the TMO.
New Zealand: B Smith; Milner-Skudder, C Smith (Williams, 62), Nonu, Naholo (Barrett, 57); Carter, A Smith (Kerr-Barlow, 72); Woodcock (Crockett, 42), Coles (Mealamu, 66), O Franks (B Franks, 62), Romano (Retallick, 49), Whitelock (Messam, 66), Kaino, Cane, Read (capt).
Tries: B Smith, Woodcock, Milner-Skudder 2, Williams, Cane, Nonu. Cons: Carter 6. Sin bin: Read 37
Tonga: Lilo; Veainu (Helu, 66), Piutau, Fosita, Vainikolo; Morath (Tahitua, 62), Takulua (Fisilau, 69); Tonga'uiha (Taumalolo, 55), Taione (Ngauamo, 49), Aulika, Lokotui, Tuineau (Mafi, 54), Kalamafoni, Latu (capt), Ma'afu (Ram, 66).
Pens: Morath 3. Sin-bin: Ngauamo 69.
Referee: John Lacey (Ire). Attendance: 50,985.
