GIANT winger Jonah Lomu, the star of the last World Cup, scored two tries as New Zealand recovered from a poor start to swamp rank outsiders Tonga 45-9 in the Group B in Bristol on Saturday. In the first full international between the two countries, Lomu stood out from a mediocre All Blacks performance as he powered over for a try in each half. The World Cup favourites looked anything but world beaters in a scrappy first 60 minutes, made worse by windy and wet conditions, as the Tongans disrupted their rhythm with a tough, well-organised performance. England, New Zealand’s main rivals in Group B who they face at Twickenham next Saturday, will have seen little to worry them in the All Blacks’ sloppy display against a team quoted at 250-1 by bookmakers to win the tournament. New Zealand went into half-time leading just 16-9 but they finally found their form in the final quarter of the match, running in four tries, as the Tongans began to tire. Twenty of their points came from the boot of fly-half Andrew Mehrtens who struck four penalties and four conversions. Josh Kronfeld, Norm Maxwell, Byron Kelleher were the other try-scorers. Tonga, though, rarely threatened to cross the New Zealand line, setting out instead to play a spoiling, defensive game with damage limitation clearly uppermost in their minds. Full-back Siua Taumalolo scored all their points with three penalties. –AFP