All Blacks struggle to win over Georgia

The All Blacks have beaten Georgia 43-10 in their Rugby World Cup match in Cardiff.

The All Blacks scored four first-half tries and led 22-10 at the break.

But Steve Hansen won't be happy with his team's performance as they made far too many errors.

Our rugby reporter says while the All Blacks had the vast majority of the ball they were generally unable to break the Georgian defence, while their handling let them down.

Julian Savea scored three tries with Waisake Naholo also scoring - the right wing dotting down after just 73 seconds of his World Cup debut with a scintillating run to beat three defenders - and one try each to Dane Coles, Kieran Read and Malakai Fekitoa.

Dan Carter managed to convert four of them, but missed three too.

Fullback Beka Tsiklauri scored a first-half try for Georgia.

Coach Steve Hansen didn't think their performance was too bad, "We're trying to qualify for a quarter-final and trying to do things with a purpose, not necessarily are you trying to do everything, you're just trying to work on certain parts of your game."

"There's a lot of things we could have done better, for sure. Our skill and execution at times was not great, but we've got plenty of talent in this team. I wouldn't say the game was great, but it doesn't have to be at the moment. You don't get any gold medals for winning these games, you just get to qualify."

Captain Richie McCaw limped from the field but he said "it's just a couple of bruises and I could have carried on, I'll be fine."

Georgia's New Zealand coach Milton Haig was happy with his team's efforts.

"I asked the boys during the week and before the game to play with a bit of pride, for their country, to show the rugby world what Georgian rugby is about," Haig said. "For large parts of the game tonight that's what we did. I'm a proud coach."

Asked about New Zealand's performance, Haig noted that they may not have been so pleased.

"The All Blacks are a team that always look for perfection, in every game they play and there's always a massive amount of expectation on their performance," Haig said.

"When they have their big boys going through the middle and went wide on us, they scored some pretty good tries. I think there's some things that the All Blacks coaches will take from this. Certainly in their set piece I thought they were good tonight."

"In the long run they are progressing through the tournament with three wins from three, and they are defending champions. As a New Zealander my heart is with them," Haig said.

The New Zealanders top their group with 14 points, while Tonga have six, Argentina five, Georgia four and Namibia none.

The result qualifies the All Blacks for the quarter-finals.

Argentina plays Tonga on Monday morning, while the All Blacks' next game is against Tonga next weekend.