There was a match, and there was a moment. The All Blacks settled the match without argument, 54-0, a sixth straight win. The moment belonged to a 44-year-old who stepped forward alone to face the black line and return the haka he had performed himself a hundred and three times.

Fifty-four to nil

Dave Rennie’s All Blacks beat the Sharks 54-0 on Tuesday night at Kings Park, in their second outing of the tour. It was their sixth consecutive win, earned with a heavily rotated side, five days after a far more laboured 38-21 victory over the Stormers in Cape Town.

The margin needs some context: the Sharks were without their senior players on Springbok duty, notably Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi and André Esterhuizen. They did not score a single point.

The move that summed up the evening came in the 63rd minute, just after Nonu came on. From a restart, Quinn Tupaea beat one defender with a sidestep, handed off the next and released Emoni Narawa, who found Caleb Clarke with a reverse flick pass. The Blues wing cut back inside and sent his scrum-half over the line. Straight off the whiteboard.

The haka answered

Before kick-off, Ruben Love had led the Ka Mate. Nonu, wearing 23 for the Sharks, then stepped forward alone to face the black line and launched into Kapa o Pango. Nobody saw it coming, including his own side.

Ma’a Nonu’s response to the haka, filmed by the All Blacks.

A hundred and three, exactly

The figure has always been quoted and it is correct: Ma’a Nonu won a hundred and three caps for New Zealand. The first on 13 June 2003, the last on 31 October 2015, in the World Cup final against Australia. In between, two world titles and thirteen seasons.

Ten years and nine months passed between that last cap and Tuesday’s match. Twenty-three years and two months between his first cap and this one. And this was no veteran coaxed out of retirement for the occasion: at 44, he was still playing competitive matches four months ago.

What lies ahead for the All Blacks

The tour continues on Saturday against the Bulls. Then come the four Tests against the Springboks, on 22 and 29 August and 5 and 12 September, with a match against the Lions slotted in between the third and fourth. That is where the true level of this New Zealand side will be measured, not against franchises stripped of their internationals.