All Blacks romp to victory against out-muscled Sharks

Man-of-the-Match, All Black centre Jordie Barrett marked his outstanding game with a 59th-minute try that summed up the reward the All Blacks got for their superior approach to claim a 54-0 win over the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Durban on the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour.

It came after the All Blacks, who led 14-0 at half-time, lifted their tempo to run the ball through multiple hands before Barrett finished the move. Then, from the restart, centre Quinn Tupaea, who was right behind Barrett in second-half effort, replacement wing Emoni Narawa, Caleb Clarke and scrumhalf Kyle Preston combined for Preston to cross as the All Blacks ran the Sharks ragged.

It was reward for a controlled build-up by the tourists, who denied a lacklustre home team any scoring chances and highlighted the All Blacks' dominance. Before the contest was complete, replacement center Timoci Tavatavanawai (68) and lock Sam Darry (73) scored to round out the eight unanswered tries posted in their win.

The All Blacks impressed in making light of difficult conditions, with puddles on the field.

Ahead of the contest, the All Blacks had the rare sight of a former All Black, Ma’a Nonu, responding to their haka with one of his own.

It took time to absorb the lively Sharks start but from a Barrett midfield Garryowen, the All Blacks secured the ball and mounted several strong charges before Preston, whose earlier tap penalty in the All Blacks 22m area took them deep into Sharks territory, moved the ball blind for lock Josh Lord to slip the pass to wing Fehi Fineanganofo who slid over in the corner, 18 minutes after the start.

Four minutes later, another Barrett kick, this time to the corner, was lightly kicked ahead by fullback Zekhethelo Siyaya. However, the All Black fullback Damian McKenzie was originally awarded a try after securing a kick ahead by Quinn Tupaea, only for the TMO to make a late call that he had lost the ball when sliding over the line.

But the Sharks, apart from the first 10 minutes, couldn’t get out of their half long enough to build phases to pressure the All Blacks. Then, from a line-out deep in the Sharks 22m, Barrett kicked to the open flank where Fineanganofo took the ball, beat his marker and fed McKenzie in for a try which survived TMO scrutiny this time. However, McKenzie retired injured soon after, having suffered an ankle injury when attempting to take a high kick earlier in the game. Narawa replaced him.

The home team made a strong start, taking advantage of more early penalties conceded by the All Blacks; however, strong defence denied them any try-scoring chances. The home team made little effort to move the ball, the Sharks most frequently looking to create pressure with high kicks from flyhalf Vusi Moyo but that brought little reward as the All Blacks went to the break leading 14-0.

Four minutes into the second half, hooker Asafo Aumua was ruled not to have grounded the ball over the line but a penalty advantage was played. He tapped the ball to take it into the goalmouth and the ball was released for a long pass from No 8 Wallace Sititi’s long pass to Clarke, who secured the ball to score.

Poor Sharks ball control on the ground, after the All Blacks resorted to short kicks behind the Sharks defence, with Barrett again prominent, saw Ruben Love toe the ball ahead before Clarke picked it up and threw to Fineanganofo, who scored his second in the 52nd minute, before the All Blacks dominated the final quarter for an emphatic win.