All Blacks v Namibia: No injuries the main victory

Victor Vito scores the All Blacks' opening try against Namibia. Photo / Brett Phibbs

No records for the All Blacks in their victory over Namibia this morning, but most importantly, no major injuries against a team which provided stiffer competition than many expected.

At an arena which hosted the Olympics in 2012 in such a wonderful spirit, the All Blacks, and Richie McCaw in particular, received a noticably kinder welcome from the 51,820 crowd than at Wembley in their opening match against Argentina four days ago. Namibia weren't quite as hospitable, though, which was not only good for them and the World Cup, but the sport itself.

The All Blacks scored nine tries in total, the first to Victor Vito after six minutes. The bonus point fourth try came after 31 minutes, with Nehe Milner-Skudder and Julian Savea scoring two each. Hooker Codie Taylor scored the final one on the 80th minute - a beauty thanks to Milner-Skudder's quick hands.

In between there was some good stuff and some untidy stuff from the All Blacks. Beauden Barrett, who played most of the game at No10, was sharp, as was centre pairing Sonny Bill Williams and Malakai Fekitoa, who were quickly on the same wavelength.

Not so good were the handling errors - too often players passed the ball unnecessarily when under pressure. The worst perpetrators appeared to seek out contact before passing to a player in a worse position and their second-half performance surprisingly lacked the fluency of the first.

Credit has to go to Namibia, though. They entered the match playing for pride and the avoidance of Japan's 145-10 thrashing by New Zealand at the World Cup in 1995, and they had the All Blacks under pressure at times, scoring a brilliantly-worked try through second-five Johan Deysel, who was the beneficiary of a switch move from a lineout which stretched the men in black.

Deysel, who earlier made one of the tackles of the match when bowling Barrett over, also had plenty to do himself to get over the line for easily the most popular try of the night, his teammates celebrating like they had won the game.

They have never won a World Cup match, but, given they play Tonga in four days, a match which is possibly their best chance of breaking their duck at this tournament, they acquitted themselves well. There was no sense of them keeping their powder dry.

Their lineout in particular was well organised - they annoyed the All Blacks by stealing a throw in the first half when their opponents were on the attack - and in loose forwards Jacques Burger and Tinus du Plessis they had two long-haired Terminators, the sort that seem to enjoy smiling through a mouthful of blood.

The tone was set from the first whistle when the All Black forwards rumbled Theuns Kotze's kick-off to the halfway line, failed to regain possession from the maul, but then destroyed Namibia in the resulting scrum to earn a penalty, but the men in blue refused to capitulate.

All Blacks Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Ben Smith, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw and Ma'a Nonu got a run off the bench in the second half, with McCaw a popular substitution for Jerome Kaino after the jeers he received at Wembley.

Unfortunately the game ground to a halt midway through the second half due to a long series of re-set scrums combined with referee Romain Poite's constant whistling and TMO George Ayoub's constant interfering. The departing skipper Burger received a standing ovation from a section of the crowd but the buzz had gone.

All Blacks 58 (Nehe Milner-Skudder 2, Julian Savea 2, Victor Vito, Malakai Fekitoa, Beauden Barrett, Ben Smith, Codie Taylor tries; Beauden Barrett 4 cons, pen; Colin Slade con)
Namibia 14 (Johan Deysel try; Theuns Kotze 3 pens)
Halftime: 34-6

- Patrick McKendry at Olympic Stadium