Flyhalf Beauden Barrett did more than enough to give coach Steve Hansen more selection headaches ahead of this year's Rugby Championship as the All Blacks completed a series sweep over Wales with a 46-6 third test victory on Saturday.
Barrett, who finished the game at fullback, scored two tries and added two penalties and five conversions in his 26 points for the world champions who ran away with the game in the second half at Otago Regional Stadium in Dunedin.
Ben Smith, George Moala, Dan Coles and Israel Dagg all scored tries for the hosts, who already fielded somewhat of an experimental side and ended the game with Smith and regular winger Waisake Naholo in the midfield and Dagg on the wing.
Flyhalf Dan Biggar kicked two first half penalties for the visitors, who had been enterprising and put the world champions under pressure in the first two tests but ran out of steam after 12 months of constant rugby.
The All Blacks had a much better first half than they did in the first two games, which pleased Hansen.
“We wanted to start really well and we improved on last week,” Hansen said. “That first 65 minutes was probably as good as we wanted it to be at this stage of the season.
“But you're always wanting more, aren't you? That's something we will work on.”
The All Blacks, who could barely get their hands on the ball in the first 15 minutes, were ruthlessly efficient on the counter attack with Barrett, Smith and Dagg exploiting space and targeting mismatches against forwards.
Smith and Moala's first half tries were scored from attacks from deep, while Moala, playing his second test, also had a try ruled out by television official George Ayoub following another counter from the Smith-Dagg combination.
Wales were restricted to Biggar's first half penalties as they were unable to breach the defence despite being camped on the All Blacks line just before the break.
The All Blacks' defensive effort was typical of the series, with the visitors controlling possession and recycling but often finding themselves not getting over the advantage line and driven back down field.
Barrett, who could now start at flyhalf in the Rugby Championship opener against the Wallabies on Aug. 20, extended the lead to 25-6 shortly after the break, finishing the game off as a contest and then grabbed his second with his pace taking him past the drifting defender.
He then set the platform for Coles' sixth test try with a searing midfield break. Dagg scored a length of the field try four minutes after the fulltime hooter.
“The scoreboard is a fair reflection,” Wales captain Sam Warburton said. “We played well in the first two tests but we were poor today.
“Our kick chase was bad and they got a lot of success on the counter attack. Our defence wasn't good. We fell off a lot of tackles and things like that you can't do that over here.
“We were definitely second best.”
Reuters