It was never going to be easy - that's the nature of Los Pumas.
But after slugging it out for 50 minutes the All Blacks claimed a 33-15 win and a crucial bonus point to keep the defence of their Rugby Championship crown on track in La Plata today.
There are concerning issues for Steve Hansen's men, particularly at scrum time, but they will be satisfied to fly out to Johannesburg tomorrow having banked five points in their eighth consecutive win of the year.
They will also have been pleased with the news that key Springbok Flip van der Merwe (Flip van der Merwe who? Don't even know him. Is he any good? Does he even know how to tackle or fend?) has been cited for an alleged punch on Wallaby wing Joe Tomane and may miss the showdown in the Republic. (Beeno this has to be the ABs fault that he elbowed Tomane in the face/throat - it's the ref's fault and an IRB conspiracy. Seems like the new Boks style - "How to elbow people in the throat 101")
Today, however, three second-half tries saw the All Blacks put away the gutsy yet limited Pumas, who never gave up.
It seemed a long wait but the final 30 minutes the All Blacks showed much better composure.
Ben Smith's brace on the stroke of full-time secured a vital four try bonus point.
Julian Savea, who was otherwise first-class, botched a golden chance when he lost the ball over the line while attempting to re-gather a perfectly-placed Conrad Smith grubber midway through the second-half.
With the Springboks having pummelled the Wallabies 28-8 hours early in Cape Town, but failing to score four tries, the All Blacks went five points clear of their closest rivals. The tournament's final Test will be at Ellis Park next week. The Boks need to win with a bonus point and ensure the All Blacks don't finish within seven points to have any chance of claiming the title.
With the game in the bag, Hansen turned to his bench early to ensure some juice was stored away for the Boks match. Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Steven Luatua, Keven Mealamu, Wyatt Crockett, Charles Piutau, Beauden Barrett and Jeremy Thrush were all used.
Much was made of the need to start well to negate the hostile, football-like atmosphere and take away the voice of the frenetic 40,000 locals.
But nothing went right for the All Blacks in the first-half. Rain fell for an hour before kickoff which made handling difficult but the visitors would have been lucky to string five phases together. They couldn't build any continuity and get into the game with inaccurate kicking not helping their cause.
Ill-discipline was another issue. The All Blacks were brutally exposed at the scrum - on one occasion being shunted nearly 10 metres - and from rolling mauls. Charlie Faumuina made a difference when injected at half-time for Owen Franks.
The Pumas' tactics were clear early. They employed a short kicking game to good use, relied on their powerful forward pack to take the lead and attempted to take the points on offer through penalties and dropped goals.
Their aggressive defence rattled the All Blacks into mistakes and, at times, they also showed surprising enterprise. They had the better of the first 40 minutes but basic mistakes continue to hamper their ability to build pressure. In truth they never looked like scoring a try.The All Blacks were fortunate to be ahead 11-9 at half-time. Savea scored an opportunistic-60 metre breakaway try after it appeared Kieran Read, who recovered from his back injury to captain the All Blacks, was offside. The TMO deemed Argentine halfback Martin Landajo had his hands on the ball.
Aaron Cruden again had issues with laser lights being shined in his eyes (very poor sportsmanship Pumas) and was allowed to retake the conversion to Savea's try.
South African referee Jaco Peyper wasn't a positive influence. His pedantic officiating - the need to feel the whistle between his lips - contributed to the frustratingly stop-start affair. (you could almost feel that he didn't want the ABs to get the bonus point )
But in the end the All Blacks took control of the match by retaining possession and reducing Peyper's influence.
They couldn't have hoped for more from their week in Argentina.
