Read expects tough road trip

Kieran Read: Job not complete

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All Blacks number eight Kieran Read has refused to get carried away with his side's unbeaten run in the Rugby Championship.

New Zealand have won four from four in the tournament, with their 14th consecutive Test win coming against South Africa in Dunedin over the weekend.

Replacement scrum-half Aaron Smith scored New Zealand's decisive try in Saturday's 21-11 that kept the world's top-ranked side undefeated. The All Blacks lead the championship with 16 points ahead of Australia (eight), South Africa (seven) and Argentina (three).

New Zealand are a win away from securing the inaugural Rugby Championship trophy, but Read emphasised the upcoming Tests against Argentina and South Africa overseas would be tough assignments.

The All Blacks play the Pumas in La Plata in two weeks and then move on to the Republic to play the Springboks in Johannesburg.

"The South Africans and Argentinians will both grow an arm and a leg at home," Read told Sportal.

"The Pumas are improving very quickly and it's going to be a tough road trip for us. We're going to have to be right on our game to match them.

"But I think our team is not far away from clicking and really putting in a good performance."

The All Blacks were helped in Dunedin by the poor goal-kicking of the Springboks, who kicked just two of nine attempts. And 26-year-old Read, who has played 42 Tests, said it was fortunate for the All Blacks that the South African kickers were off target.

"You've got to be very disciplined in every Test you play," Read said.

"I guess the penalties meant we didn't get as much territory as we would have wanted.

"We wanted to match them at the breakdown and be physical at the tackle and sometimes you get a bit on edge and likely to be penalised. We have to be more disciplined so we'll work on not conceding so many penalties."

While the match was physical and the result hung in the balance throughout, it was again of the low quality that has so far bedevilled the Rugby Championship.

South Africa could and probably should have won the match: it had the possession and the opportunities to do so but, apart from Bryan Habana's superb try in the 48th minute, lacked discipline and precision in attack.

The Springboks kicked away a slew of valuable possession, offering counter-attacking chances to the All Blacks' dangerous back three. But while the All Blacks were strong under the high ball throughout the match, they struggled to create coherent attacking play against a combative Springboks defence.

"It wasn't exactly what we wanted. We've got to ensure we're better than that and don't concede so many penalties," said Read.

"You look at the statistics and, if they had kicked their goals, we could have been in trouble.

"But it was very satisfying to win. It was a really tough game. They really brought it to us physically."