Brain triumphed over brawn big time as New Zealand ran Argentina ragged at Jade Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday night, scoring 10 tries to two in winning 67-19.
Predictably, the Argentinians were combative up front but were exposed ruthlessly out wide by the All Blacks who dealt them a lesson in the art of counter-attacking and slick passing to create the overlap.
The Pumas had come to New Zealand determined to erase the agony of their 93-8 loss at Wellington in 1997 but, although competitive, they were dealt another rugby lesson by the men in black.
New Zealand's victory was achieved at the expense of several injuries, however, some of which could be serious.
New No.8 Jerry Collins dislocated his shoulder, first-five Andrew Mehrtens damaged his quadricep muscle, lock Troy Flavell was damaged in a crude off-the-ball incident involving Roberto Grau and fullback Leon MacDonald, who was shaping up as one of the stars of the evening, limped off with a leg muscle strain.
The reshuffles allowed other individuals to grab their share of glory.
When MacDonald went off, and was replaced by Doug Howlett, Jeff Wilson reverted to fullback, the position he'd occupied for the All Blacks in 1999.
He flourished, showing many deft touches and scoring two tries to equal Christian Cullen's New Zealand test record of 42 tries.
Marty Holah also prospered as Collins' replacement, having a huge second half and capping it with his first test try.
The 80-minute stars of New Zealand's handsome win were halfback Justin Marshall, midfielder Pita Alatini, Wilson in his twin positions, MacDonald in the 43 minutes he was on the field, lock Norm Maxwell, who ruled the line-out, a rampaging Flavell and Randell, who proved his versatility by playing one half as the openside flanker, the other as the No.8.
Marshall completely outplayed his rival Agustin Pichot who was contained throughout by New Zealand's close-in defence.
Indeed, the All Blacks' aggressive tackling in the second half was truly sensational.
As captain Anton Oliver later explained, "The Argentinians obviously decided at halftime the only way to win was to through the forwards, but we stopped them with some big hits."
Oliver had the embarrassment of being shown a yellow card, and having to sit out 10 minutes of the second half, ostensibly for throwing a punch, but TV replays showed clearly he was guilty of nothing more than pushing an opponent in the chest.
He was delighted that the backs were able to piece together so many tries. "We played conservatively against Samoa but decided to try a few moves tonight. It resulted in us making mistakes at times but we scored some classic tries. I'm happy with 67 points."
Jonah Lomu marked his return to the test line-up with some typically bruising runs. Although he didn't feature among the tryscorers, he did set up Tana Umaga for New Zealand's first five-pointer.
Umaga mishandled a few times but he and Alatini created huge problems for the Argentinian defence, as did MacDonald as a counter-attacker and, from the 43rd minute, Howlett, who has now scored seven tries in six tests.
The New Zealand scrum, shaky against Samoa, held solid this time, with young Carl Hayman coming through his challenging debut with flying colours. Not only did he hold steady in the scrums, he made some huge tackles.
Maxwell had one of his finest games for New Zealand, winning every one of his own balls and a few Argentinian line-out throws as well.
Apart from some elusive footwork by flyhalf Felipe Contepomi, and a couple of well-taken, opportunist tries, it was a rather forgettable evening for the Pumas backline.
They seemed to forget they had backs who could attack and as the scoreline mounted, reverted to type, trying to outmuscle the All Blacks.
Skipper Lisandro Arbizu started and finished a 75-metre try, knocking the ball away from Alatini on his own 22 and joining the action in time to sprint away for the touchdown.
That took Argentina to 14 points in the 33rd minute, which is where they stayed until Gonzalo Camardon won the sprint after a Quesada grubber kick 46 minutes later.
Man of the match: Several contenders all wearing black jerseys, but none was classier throughout the 80 minutes than halfback Justin Marshall who threw strong passes and several times burst through the Pumas defence.
Moment of the Match: Probably New Zealand's 90-metre try in the sixth minute, instigated by fullback Leon MacDonald, who counter-attacked brilliantly, and finished off by Tana Umaga. It set the tone for the evening.
Villain of the Match: Pumas prop Roberto Grau who recklessly pile-drove into Troy Flavell off the ball, Flavell went off injured and Grau spent 10 minutes in the sin bin.
The Teams:
New Zealand: 1 Carl Hayman, 2 Anton Oliver (c), 3 Carl Hoeft, 4 Troy Flavell, 5 Norm Maxwell, 6 Jerry Collins, 7 Reuben Thorne, 8 Taine Randell, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Jonah Lomu, 12 Pita Alatini, 13 Tana Umaga, 14 Jeff Wilson, 15 Leon MacDonald
Reserves: Doug Howlett, Marty Holah, Chris Jack, Greg Somerville, Tony Brown, Mark Hammett
Unused: Byron Kelleher
Argentina: 1 Roberto Grau, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Omar Hasan Jalil, 4 Alejandro Allub, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Bernardo Stortoni
Reserves: Lucas Ostiglia, Jose Nunez Piossek, Gonzalo Quesada, Mauricio Reggiardo
Attendance: 20000
Referee: Cole a.
Points Scorers:
New Zealand
Tries: Howlett D.C. 1, Holah M.R. 1, Jack C.R. 1, MacDonald L.R. 1, Alatini P.F. 2, Randell T.C. 1, Umaga J.F. 1, Wilson J.W. 2
Conv: Brown T.E. 4, Mehrtens A.P. 3
Pen K.: Mehrtens A.P. 1
Argentina
Tries: Arbizu L. 1, Camardon G.F. 1
Pen K.: Contepomi F. 3
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