All Blacks battle past valiant Italy side in Turin

Scores from Cam Roigard, Will Jordan, Mark Tele'a and Beauden Barrett were added to by nine points off the tee from the latter as the All Blacks claimed a rugged win.

Paolo Garbisi kicked six points while Tommaso Menoncello scored for Italy and they will be buoyed by their performance, especially after a disappointing recent period.

There was plenty of encouragement from Italy's first-half showing as they caused New Zealand several headaches and fronted up admirably in an improved performance.

The pressure they put on the All Blacks led to errors from the visitors. However, a facet New Zealand had success was the scrum, which won them a couple of penalties.

It was Italy though who opened the scoring after Ardie Savea dived over a ruck in a cynical manner, allowing Garbisi to successfully nudge his team 3-0 into the lead.

New Zealand responded through Barrett on 15 minutes after Menoncello had over-extended at a ruck and taking the three points was a sign the All Blacks were rattled.

They didn't help themselves when Patrick Tuipulotu and others were penalised for obstruction as Rieko Ioane collected the resulting restart, with Garbisi duly obliging.

At 6-3 up and with Scott Barrett being shown a yellow card for a croc-roll after 20 minutes, things were looking especially rosy for the fired-up Azzurri and their fans.

However, a much-needed opportunistic crossing from Roigard silenced the Allianz Stadium crowd as he sniped around the fringe of a ruck for a score to make it 10-6.

Things would get even better for the All Blacks on the stroke of half-time when Jordan was sent through a hole after a sustained period of pressure for a key try that moved him ahead of the great Jonah Lomu in New Zealand's try-scoring chart.

The first score after the break was always going to be crucial and it looked for all money that the Italians would get it after dominating both possession and territory.

Unfortunately for the Azzurri â- even with Anton Lienert-Brown being sent to the sin-bin for repeated team offences â- they simply could not break down the black wall.

The scoreline remained locked at 16-7 as the final 10 minutes approached but it was a period not without key moments including Sam Cane bowing out to warm applause. There was also the introduction of another outgoing New Zealand legend as scrum-half TJ Perenara emerged off the bench for his final run-out in the black shirt.

Finally, the deadlock was broken, however, on 71 minutes when sloppy passing in the backline eventually found Tele'a, with Beauden Barrett adding the tough extras.

It seemed fitting that Italy would have the final say in the game as Menoncello received an offload from Marco Zanon for a consolation score that was fully deserved.

However, the Azzurri chanced their arm too much in the final play on their own line and Beauden Barrett capitalised, cantering over to add gloss to the away win.