Auckland: Karl Tu’inukuafe made his immense presence felt with a game-changing introduction to Test rugby as the All Blacks came from behind to record a runaway 52-11 win over France here yesterday.
The All Blacks scored eight tries, seven of them after the man mountain, who was not on their radar a few weeks ago, came on five minutes into the second half and used his immense bulk to give the world champions a much-needed scrum dominance.
From being 8-11 down at the break, the All Blacks piled on 44 unanswered points in a blistering second half to stretch their Eden Park unbeaten run to 41 games.
Codie Taylor, Ben Smith, Damian McKenzie, Ardie Savea and Ngani Laumape all scored tries in the second period, while Rieko Ioane ran in two.
French fullback Maxime Medard will have nightmares about his last-ditch attempt to block Laumape when the All Blacks replacement charged at the line.