The All Blacks maintained their unbeaten record in this year’s Rugby Championship with a 28-13 win over Argentina in testing conditions in Wellington.
Heavy rain made handling tricky and both sides suffered from handling errors, while the All Blacks suffered a further setback as Richie McCaw left the field after 60 minutes with a knee injury.
The Pumas took the lead in the fifth minute, as a mistake from the test debutant Francis Saili made an error inside his own 22 that led to Juan Manuel Leguizamon crossing for the opening try.
Dan Carter responded for the All Blacks with a penalty, and in the process of narrowing the deficit became the first player in history to break the 1400 test point barrier.
Argentina hooker Eusebio Guinazu was sent to the sin bin shortly after and the All Blacks pounced on their opportunity, crossing the line twice with Aaron Smith the man getting both tries.
A penalty from Nicolas Sanchez narrowed the gap just before half-time to leave it 15-10 at the break.
Carter and Sanchez exchanged penalties after the break before New Zealand winger Julian Savea got his 14th try in as many tests. Beauden Barrett completed the scoring for the hosts.
