DURBAN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Competition ⁠for test places in the New Zealand squad was heightened by an emphatic 54-0 win ⁠in their second tour game on Tuesday, with a clinical performance against the Sharks ‌pleasing coach Dave Rennie.

The All Blacks are on a six-week, eight-match tour of South Africa with four matches against provincial opposition and four tests in the first of its kind in 30 years.

After starting with a far-from-convincing showing against the Stormers ​in Cape Town on Friday, the All Blacks proved devastating ⁠against the Sharks with eight unanswered tries, ⁠plenty of pace and few mistakes despite the cold and wet conditions.

Rennie has said he aimed ⁠to ‌give all of his 44-man squad a run-out over the first three games and after hammering the Sharks, added that the battle for places in the first test side against ⁠the Springboks on August 22 was heating up.

"We've now had five ​games this season and I ‌think we've got a lot better understanding of the game we're trying to play," said ⁠Rennie, referring also ​to last month’s Nations Championship wins at home to France, Italy and Ireland.

"We've got a lot more people who have got good time and so we shared the load a bit, but there's a really good competition ⁠for spots, and so I think that's really important heading ​into the tests in a couple of weeks.

"We're trying to build; however, the conditions probably made it challenging to shift a lot of ball, but I thought overall, we did a pretty good job out ⁠there and on the back of a really solid defensive effort," Rennie added at a press conference.

"Look, we got a lot more in us. We can't afford to start games like we have in the two games here and so that'll be a focus for us. In the first 40 minutes, ​we gave away a lot of penalties early and just didn't ⁠build enough pressure for long enough.

"But the second half was excellent. We kicked really well. A lot more ​clinically. We continued to defend well. Yeah, they obviously kicked ‌a lot of the ball, which we generally dealt ​with well. It wasn't always perfect, but we got a lot of reward from good work."

The All Blacks next meet the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.

(Editing by Christian Radnedge)