Slade passes Canada test as All Blacks No 10

New Zealand coach Graham Henry used his 100th Test in charge of the All Blacks as an audition for a new fly half, with both Colin Slade and Piri Weepu on stage.

With star No.10 Dan Carter ruled out of the tournament with a torn groin muscle, Slade played the first 51 minutes in the 79-15 win over Canada before moving to the wing to allow replacement Weepu a shot.

Henry said both improved the longer they went on, but for now Slade had his nose in front.

"Colin Slade's the boy," said Henry. "He just needs more football. We see Colin as the guy to play and we're just going to have to take him and see how he's performing out there and get him through."

Another who impressed in his first outing at RWC 2011 was wing Zac Guildford, who scored four of the All Blacks' 12 tries.

"He played well which was particularly pleasing. He set very good standards over the last four weeks. He is a natural candidate for next week," Henry said in reference to New Zealand's quarter-final with Argentina.

Scrum target

The All Blacks' pre-match plan to try to avoid scrum collapses seemed to work for them. None collapsed but plenty went backwards as Canada lost four of their own scrums and conceded a pushover try.

Canada led for the first six minutes, after winning a penalty when Slade's first clearing kick was charged down. But the young fly half made amends when he broke through and sent a long pass to Guildford for the first of his tries.

The All Blacks piled on six tries in the first half to lead 37-8 at the break, Canada's lone five pointer coming from one attacking scrum they did manage to clear in time to feed an overlap on their left.

Canada wing Conor Trainor finished the move well to score the first of his two tries in three minutes either side of half time, a feat that is sure to make him the toast of his club side the BC Bears.

Steady rain in the second half made handling more difficult and the All Blacks made an uncharacteristic 14 handling errors to Canada's 10 for the match.

Hits and misses

However, Henry said their game improved when they started "respecting the conditions", with Weepu putting the ball in behind the defence with kicks rather than trying to run it at every opportunity.

Canada coach Kieran Crowley, downcast at the result and his team's failure to win automatic qualification for Rugby World Cup 2015, admitted his players were like "deer in the headlights" for the first few minutes.

But Canada battled hard to the end and Crowley said he could not fault their commitment.

"They were still making the big hits at the end," he said.

But it was the misses that counted. Canada missed 40 tackles to the All Blacks' four, contributing to New Zealand's 12 clean line breaks.

New Zealand will play Argentina at Eden Park, Auckland next Sunday.