Andrew Spear in Christchurch
After having to overcome a scratchy start, New Zealand managed to beat a spirited Italy 27-6 in their one-off Iveco Test at AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday.
The All Blacks strung together a miserable first half and only led 13-3 at the break before some patches of brilliance in the second half saw the home side win comfortably in the end.
With many new faces in the All Black side, it was always going to be a tough task to obliterate the Azzurri who played well in their recent Tests against Australia. But there is a definite need for huge improvement ahead of the Tri Nations that kicks off in a few weeks time.
There is little doubt the All Black coaches will not be impressed from what was displayed by their side with the match highlighting the lack of depth at first five-eighths with Luke McAlister not really finding his feet throughout the game.
The opening 10 minutes of play was dominated by McAlister for all the wrong reasons after his two aimless chip-kicks, a knock-on, a pass to no-one and failure to find touch with a penalty kick kept New Zealand on the back foot.
The 25-year-old then made up for some of his errors however when his first penalty shot at goal was successful in the ninth minute.
The All Black scrum was up to the challenge of the Italians in the early stages with debutant prop Wyatt Crockett standing his ground against an established front-row that performed well against Australia in their recent series.
New Zealand couldn't seem to get much of a break for the first quarter of the game with Italy dominating, gaining 92 percent territory and looking dangerous with McAlister continuously making errors and keeping the Azzurri on the front foot.
When the All Blacks finally found their way back down field in the 22nd minute, a lineout was stolen by lock Isaac Ross which allowed quick ball out to McAlister who nailed a finely executed cross-field kick out to Rokocoko who drove over to score.
The try was the perfect answer for all the questions being raised about the wings selection as he celebrated his 44th try in the black jersey with McAlister converting to take the All Blacks to a 10 point lead.
An exchange of successful penalty kicks highlighted the next period of time with Australian-born fullback Luke McLean adding the Italians first points and taking the score to 13-3, where it remained until halftime.
Although captain and fullback Mils Muliana occasionally injected himself into the line and offered moments of brilliance, the second stanza started in the same sloppy manner as the first.
Debutant wing Lelia Masaga nearly set up New Zealand's second try of the evening when he chipped in a mid-field kick that was lost on by an Italian player in-goal.
All Blacks No.8 Kieran Reid dived on the ball and looked to have scored but after heading to the video referee, the try was not awarded and a penalty given to Italy when Masaga was seen taking out an Italian player.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry obviously thought some fresh legs might be the spark his team needed and replaced three players in the 50th minute.
Italy narrowed the gap in reply, however, when McLean landed his second successful penalty goal.
A fairy-tale moment soon followed when centre Isaia Toeava cut