Sam Cane ready to lead New Zealand for first time

Another tournament upset possibly looked on the cards until New Zealand got their running game flowing as the hour approached and elusive scrumhalf Smith wiggled his way through to crown a series of attacks close to the Pumas line.

More: Video – McCaw sin-binned l Hansen weighs-in on yellow cards l Did Steve Hansen drop an F-Bomb on TV? Sometimes in the heat of the moment you have a brain explosion.

Few Kiwis could argue Barnes was wrong to sin bin first Richie McCaw – for tripping Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe – and next Conrad Smith – for hands in the ruck – temporarily reducing the All Blacks to 13 players. “I knew straight away (it was yellow)”.

“The rest of the time there’s things we can do with an eight-day turnaround (before Georgia). I suffered because of it and put the team under pressure”. You’ve got to block that kind of thing out. I thought that second half was a lot more clinical.

Barrett will play first five-eighth outside his Hurricanes halves partner TJ Perenara while Slade is fullback alongside Milner-Skudder and Savea, who owe their recalls to the lack of winger depth. You’re desperate to get started, desperate to get points on the board. “If you’re no good nobody cares”, Hansensaid.

“We know that we played to a high level against the Springboks but the first two matches of the Rugby Championship against New Zealand and Australia we didn’t play well”.

Richie McCaw led the All Black Haka in front of 80,000 fans on the hallowed Wembley turf.

“The scoreboard would reflect it was very, very hard”.

Hansen said the squad has had a great build up since arriving in the United Kingdom.

New Zealand are expected to run up a huge score against the tournament’s lowest-ranked team but Hansen said there would be much his team could gain from the match.

“Everyone’s been half a second off the pace”.

To coincide with the Rugby World Cup, The Independent has launched a new app! The only issue up for debate was the wing combination with Waisake Naholo sidelined until their third pool match against Georgia as he continues to recover from a leg fracture. We’ll use the best team available. “The bench brought that”.

Only the left boot of Dan Carter had kept the All Blacks ticking over but it was the Pumas who took the plaudits after an absorbing opening 40 minutes, playing the brighter rugby and scoring the only try of the first period when lock Guido Petti crashed over from short range in the 21st minute, Nicolas Sanchez converting.