New Zealand made it four wins in four as they topped Pool C at the Rugby World Cup 2015 with a 47-9 win over Tonga at St. James’ Park on Friday night.
Ma’a Nonu made history by making his 100th appearance for the All Blacks, and despite a difficult game, he was able to run in a late try to cap his night off in the perfect fashion.
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However, it wasn’t as straight forward as the defending champions may have liked, as Tonga mounted a comeback in the closing stages of the first half and were unlucky not to make their pressure pay to make it 14-10.
After missing their opportunity to close the gap, the All Blacks made it comfortable with a much-improved showing in the second half as Sonny Bill Williams, Sam Cane and Nehe Milner-Skudder added to this try from Ben Smith to take the game away from their rivals.
Having won all of their games in the tournament thus far, New Zealand will have sent a message out to their rivals regarding their intentions of retaining the World Cup this year, although they will have plenty to work on including their ball handling after more mistakes.
Nevertheless, they will now await the result of France vs Ireland on Sunday as they will face the loser of that contest in the quarter-finals, while Tonga are out of the tournament and finish fourth behind Georgia.
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