Ten-try All Blacks thrash Japan to open end-of-season tour

YOKOHAMA : New Zealand ran in 10 tries to kick off their end-of-season tour with a convincing 64-19 victory over a lively Japan side in an entertaining test at Yokohama's International Stadium on Saturday.

The makeshift All Blacks team showed the ruthless edge in their finishing that coach Scott Robertson had called for with seven tries in the first half but stuttered after the break, as was so often the case the Rugby Championship.

Lock Patrick Tuipulotu, number eight Wallace Sititi and winger Mark Tele'a were among the players who presented strong cases for inclusion on the remainder of the tour, while flyhalf Damian McKenzie kicked 14 points in a solid performance.

"We started quite rough," said skipper Tuipulotu. "We didn't get our set piece right and let them in for an early try.

"We managed to get some retention of the ball. As long as we held the ball, we managed to get some good payout and ended up with some tries."

Japan showed plenty of attacking endeavour but paid the price for a raft of missed tackles to send coach Eddie Jones back to the drawing board ahead of their meetings with the English and France in November.

The Brave Blossoms exploded out of the blocks as Jones had promised they would and had already made a couple of line breaks before winger Jone Naikabula burst through the midfield on an inside pass to score the first try of the game in the fifth minute.

After Tele'a and Tuipulotu responded with tries for New Zealand, Japan number eight Faulua Makisi crossed in the 18th minute and lock Warner Dearns was unfortunate to have a third try called back for a knock-on.

The Japanese defence was not on a par with the attack, however, and the All Blacks started to find plenty of space, particularly when they