New Zealand made it four wins from four in Pool C, with a 47-9 victory over Tonga at St James' Park. 

It was another below-par performance by New Zealand standards, with the scrum a definite concern going into the knockout stages. 

All-in-all though, the All Blacks will be happy with the win, with a number of fringe players putting their hands up for selection next week and some well taken tries by forwards and backs alike. 

Smith's stamp class in even first-half

Tonga more than held their own in the opening half in Newcastle, and deserved more points for their efforts. 

It was the All Blacks who opened the scoring, after some exquisite hands down the right-wing from  number of players including Conrad and Aaron Smith, which finally saw Ben Smith go over for a try. 

All three of the Smith's are world class performers on their day, and this was certainly one of them, with scrum-half Aaron in particular putting on a show for the crowd of over 50,000. 

Kurt Morath then got Tonga on the board with the first of his three penalties, before the All Blacks extended their lead thanks to a surprise try-scorer in prop forward Tony Woodcock.

The Pacific Islanders then had their best phases of play just prior to the break, which led to a yellow-card for Kiwi skipper Kieran Read. This came after the collapsing of a maul close to the line which should have possibly seen a penalty try awarded. 

Milner-Skudder sticks his hand up with second-half double 

One of the positions seemingly up for grabs in the All Black starting lineup is the right wing opposite Julian Savea. 

Savea was one of those rested in this match, giving Waisake Naholo and Nehe Milner-Skudder the chance to nail down a spot for next week, and if this match was the decider, then the Hurricanes man came out on top. 

Alongside his try brace, Milner-Skudder was a real standout performer at St James', with a number of electric breaks as well as some strong defence. 

As well as Milner-Skudder's two tries, there were second half five-pointers for Sonny-Bill Williams, Sam Cane and Ma'a Nonu in what was Nonu's 100th Test match for New Zealand. 

The last twenty minutes saw the All Blacks play their best rugby, and they will hope they can take that forward to their quarter-final in Cardiff against either Ireland or France next Saturday.