The hosts started brightly and twice led in the first half, but Sitiveni Sivivatu, Mils Muliaina and Jerome Kaino crossed to put the All Blacks - unusually, sporting white jerseys – 22-12 up at the break.

And Cory Jane and Conrad Smith rounded off an ultimately comfortable victory as France tailed off in a one-sided second half.

The French scrum dominated early on and earned a penalty which Julien Dupuy slotted over to make it 3-0.

But the lead was short-lived as good line-out ball allowed Jimmy Cowan to put Ma’a Nonu away and the centre off-loaded to Sivivatu, who dummied the last defender and touched down. Dan Carter added a tricky conversion to make it 7-3.

Yannick Jauzion appeared to have put Fulgence Ouedraogo in, but the All Blacks defence held firm and the opportunity was wasted with fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc poised for a drop-goal.

But a needless penalties allowed Dupuy to boot another three points and, after another strong scrum, it took an offside defender to prevent Julien Bonnaire breaking and the scrum-half made it 9-7.

Once again the Kiwis responded well, as Trinh-Duc’s telegraphed chip was picked off by scrum-half Cowan and Sivivatu broke to put Muliaina over.

Carter missed the conversion but added a penalty after a fine break involving Kieran Read, Nonu and Smith.

Another excellent run by Read was halted just short of the try-line by Damien Traille and the loose forward failed to off-load to Tom Donnelly.

The southern hemisphere side began to impose themselves on the scrum and sent flanker Kaino over for a third try, Carter adding the extras, and Trinh-Duc’s drop-goal left France still trailing by 10 at halfway.

Maxime Medard was halted illegally as France sought a way back into the game, Dupuy missing the resulting penalty.

Carter showed him how it was done after Donnelly drew an infringement and, after another miss, Dupuy was replaced by Morgan Parra.

Nonu’s knock-on ended a promising Kiwi move and Carter’s drop-goal attempt hit the bar.

But Jane touched down after a delightful chip and chase and Smith was only held up two yards from the line after a jinking break.

The nimble centre was not to be denied, though, and jogged in for a soft score off the back of a ruck. Some unseemly afters broke out, centring around Parra, before Carter converted.

That was the end of the scoring, though New Zealand replacement Owen Franks earned a needless sin-binning as tempers flared again three minutes from time.