Jerome Kaino was named the Gartmore Challenge man of the match as the All Blacks powered to a 47-19 win over the Barbarians at Twickenham this afternoon.
The hard tackling 21 year-old, playing his first game in the senior side, touched down one of his sides eight tries and was generally a pain in the Barbarians side throughout the match.
It completed an unbeaten 2005 Northern Hemisphere tour for the All Blacks having previously beaten Italy, Wales, and France.
Coach Graham Henry said afterwards: “I’m delighted that we won, we had 32 guys who played well. We had the depth in the squad and it’s a good foundation for next year.
“We’ve put the icing on the cake for the tour. The Barbarians were good opposition with experienced Test players who put our youngsters under pressure. Our guys will be better for that experience today.”
The All Blacks, fielding a lot of their up and coming stars, went in front as early as the fourth minute when flanker Marty Holah was left unmarked at the tail of a line-out on the Barbarians five meter line and forced his way.
Skipper Aaron Mauger added the conversion and although the Barbarians drew level on 15 minutes when No. 8 Xavier Rush finished of a drive by his forward and fly half Matt Giteau kicked the extras they were never behind.
Wing Rico Gear put them back in front just two minutes later and with a minute to go to half time centre Ma’a Nonu swept in from the 22 for Mauger to convert and put the All Blacks 19-7 in front at the break.
And they quickly extended their lead after the break when Gear neatly dummied his way inside the last of the Barbarians defence to go over after just three minutes.
Mauger again converting to put the All Blacks 26-7 ahead before a reply from the Barbarians when replacement prop Andrea Lo Cicero bulldozed his way over.
The All Blacks then replied with the only contentious try of the game after Barbarians full back Matt Rogers had been high tackled into touch by scrum half Jimmy Cowan although neither referee Andy Turner or his touch judge appeared to see it.
From the resulting play the All Blacks swept into the Barbarians 22 and centre Casey Lualala was put away with what appeared to be a forward pass for a Mauger converted try that stretched them 33-12 ahead.
Kaino’s 64th minute touchdown, on the end of Cowans long pass to race inside Rogers and converted by Mauger made it 40-12 before Barbarians lock Albert Van Den Berg intercepted a pass deep inside his own half to race the rest of the length of the pitch and score under the posts for Rogers to convert.
The All Blacks, however, had the final say when replacement Piri Weepu neatly weaved his way over from off the base of a ruck and converted his own score to end the match.
“We couldn’t hold on to the ball in the end,” commented Barbarians coach Bob Dwyer. “Towards the end of the game we enjoyed possession but it was difficult to maintain our defence. If we had done that earlier we could have kept the pressure on them but they deserved to win.”
BARBARIANS: Rogers(Aus); Latham(Aus), Tuquiri(Aus), Turinui(Aus), Bobo(Fiji); Giteau(Aus), Marshal (NZ cap); Young(Aus), Cannon(Aus), Rautenbach(SA); Vickerman(Aus), Van Den Berg(SA); Burger(SA), Waugh(Aus), Rush(NZ). Reps – Botha(SA), Lo Cicero(It), Venter(SA), Samo(Aus), Greef(SA), G Bobo(SA), Tuilevo(Fiji).
