Captain Kieran Read has praised New Zealand's display in Saturday's 54-34 Rugby Championship win against Australia.

New Zealand, who were playing for the first time since the drawn Lions series, produced a scintillating performance in the first half as they blew away an under-par Australian outfit.

The All Blacks went in at the break with a commanding 40-6 lead and despite a second-half comeback from the Aussies in Sydney the world champions ran out comfortable 54-34 winners, kicking off their campaign in fine fashion.

Rieko Ioane, who is just 20 years old, and Ryan Crotty each scored two tries for NZ while Liam Squire, Sonny Bill Williams, Damian McKenzie and Ben Smith went over to complete the rout.

Read was delighted with the performance of his side and admits it was a strange feeling in the first half due to how comfortable and easy it was for New Zealand.

"It was pretty surreal that first half to be honest," he said. "We came here to play our game and it really came off. It was a pretty awesome first half. It came about by the doing the simple things. We carried really hard and exploited a few gaps out wide."