Hansen: Bloody tough but ideal

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen and captain Richie McCaw swap notes after the test at Apia Park. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Bruising win good tune-up for Argentina, says proud ABs coach.

After an emotional and often high-impact test victory against Manu Samoa, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen spoke of his pride in his team handling conditions he said were among the toughest his players have faced.

Car horns were still blaring in the streets an hour after the test finished such was the excitement of the locals at what they had seen at Apia Park. Few would have left disappointed.

Hansen's players might have won the match 25-16, but many of his men were nursing bruises from the battle - most significantly lock Luke Romano, who cannot see out of his left eye and was sent to hospital for a precautionary x-ray after colliding with Owen Franks in a tackle.

Wing George Moala, who scored the All Blacks' only try on his debut, failed a concussion test. Reserve Colin Slade also took a head knock, but passed a concussion test.

"Playing in that heat - a lot of them haven't played for four weeks or five weeks," Hansen said of the conditions which were nearing 30C.

"Some of the guys have mentioned they were the toughest conditions they've played in."

He added: "If you asked for the perfect game to take us into the Investec Rugby Championship, then this is the perfect game. We got to blood four new guys and two or three guys returning. It was ideal. Was it tough? Yes, it was bloody tough, but test matches are meant to be."

Captain Richie McCaw said the test was as physical as he expected.

"There were some pretty big hits that went in at the start," he said. "I thought we fronted up to that pretty well, we put in some pretty big hits in return as well."

There was satisfaction that the All Blacks could grind out a typically rusty first-up test performance ahead of their next and very different challenge of playing Argentina in what will probably be freezing conditions in Christchurch on Friday next week.

On the Manu Samoa side, there was pride too for pushing the All Blacks so close, but disappointment they couldn't clinch what would have been a famous victory.

Coach Stephen Betham said: "If we stick together like we did we can compete against any of the top five teams in the world."

Assistant coach Alama Ieremia added: "This has been a huge success in terms of bringing the team here but really about the hosting. We know about the busy schedules ... but sometimes having test matches in the Pacific, you can't actually put a money value on that. We've done a lot for world rugby and we feel like we've earned the right to have this test match here. It's great to be able to invite people and also host them and invite them back again."