Aaron Smith says the historic home loss to Argentina in Christchurch has revealed how the All Blacks can improve ahead of Saturday’s rematch in Hamilton.

Argentina outplayed the All Blacks using a pinpoint tactical kicking game and brutal defence to claim their first-ever victory in New Zealand.

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“As we’ve seen from the northern hemisphere and teams so far in the Rugby Championship, they want to give us the ball. They don’t really want to play, and they are attacking our breakdown,” Smith told the NZ Herald. “If you attack with the ball for long periods of time, you give them opportunities and they’re taking them.

“Argentina weren’t trying to win the game – they were trying not to lose it. They use their defence for that and we played into their hands in that sense. They didn’t go beyond four or five phases at all, so they don’t want the ball. We need to be able to turn them around and play the game they don’t want to.

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“There’s plenty of opportunities, plenty of space to turn them around, but also around using the ball in wider channels to spread them out. We’ve got to be better at the breakdown and attacking together.”

The All Blacks have resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes to the team that went down in Christchurch, with the alterations on the bench, where hooker Dane Coles, lock Brodie Retallick, flank Dalton Papali’i and flyhalf Beauden Barrett have been recalled.

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Photo: Paul Childs / Reuters