The New Zealand All Blacks faced a strong challenge from the Pacific Barbarians before overcoming them 50-10 in a UNICEF charity match Friday at Tokyo's Chichibunomiya Stadium.
The All Blacks, preparing for a test series in Europe, struggled to get their act together under some stiff resistance from the opposition, which included a number of former All Blacks as well as players from Japan, Canada, Fiji and Tonga.
Fullback Bruce Reihana, making his New Zealand debut, opened the scoring in the 12th minute, but in the 38th minute the Barbarians tied the game on former All Black scrum-half Graeme Bachop's try, to the delight of the 24,000 fans. Andrew Miller of Kobe Steel made the conversion to tie the score.