All Blacks player ratings vs Italy | Rugby World Cup 2023
The All Blacks well and truly got their Rugby World Cup back on track on a warm evening in Lyon, thrashing Italy 96-15.
New Zealand had seven converted tries on the board by halftime and didn’t let up after the break, grabbing another seven in the second stanza.
How did the All Blacks rate in what was an emphatic victory?
1. Ofa Tu’ungafasi – 6/10
Had the better of Marco Rionni, winning one penalty and one free kick in the first half. Penalised once for playing the ball on the floor when trying to secure an NZ ruck. Off in 50th minute.
2. Codie Taylor – 8
Didn’t get his running game going but did everything else that could be asked of him. Nailed all eight of his lineout deliveries. Grabbed a turnover when Italy were building phases early in the match and then forced a breakdown penalty later in the half. Combined well with Nepo Laulala to flatten one Italian ball-carrier. Off in 57th minute.
3. Nepo Laulala – 6
A rock in the scrums – but also a rock around the park. Didn’t make any errors but largely left the busy work to his teammates. Off in 50th minute.
4. Brodie Retallick – 8
Strong in the lineouts, taking four deliveries for NZ and stealing two off Italian feeds. Put in some monstrous hits, never taking a backwards step. Pinged a couple of times, once for not releasing the tackled player before going for the steal and one for creeping up offside. Made a nice steal at the ensuing lineout to compensate for the latter. Grabbed a try following an Italian error.
5. Scott Barrett – 6
Didn’t stand out in the open field but hit plenty of breakdowns. His charge-down created a try for his locking partner. Pinged for jumping across the lineout. Shifted to blindside flanker for the last half-hour.
6. Shannon Frizell – 7
Got involved early on both sides of the ball, making one rollicking tackle. Looked good in the open field but was one of a number of players guilty of not giving the ball to dangerman Will Jordan. Plucked one Italian lineout delivery out of the air when the Azzurri were just five metres out. Off in 50th minute.
7. Dalton Papali’i – 6
Busy on defence but didn’t shine on attack thanks to the more prominent running threats around him. Still, earned himself a try after displaying great hands while running off Mark Telea. The first All Black to hit double digits in the tackle count. Off in 57th minute.
8. Ardie Savea – 9
His best performance of the year. Churned through metres with every carry. Made an excellent break out of New Zealand’s 22 off a short ball from Brodie Retallick, then made the right decision shifting the ball to Beauden Barrett. The All Blacks had their third try of the night seconds later. Again broke through the Italian defence (frankly, all too easily) with his next touch and dived over for a try of his own. Scored a second right on halftime. Assisted Will Jordan’s second with a good supporting run and popped up with the ball in hand on a couple more occasions throughout the second half to finish with 100 carry metres to his name. Penalised in front of the posts for sticking his hands in the ruck and Tommaso Allan wasted no time converting the opportunity into three points.
9. Aaron Smith – 8
Grabbed a try off the back of a push-over maul, which no doubt infuriated his teammates in the pack. Earned himself a second with a nice dart from another forward drive. Had his hat trick in the 34th minute after running a good support line off Jordie Barrett. Off in 50th minute.
10. Richie Mo’unga – 7
An understated but relatively cool, calm and collected performance. Hands let him down on a couple occasions. Hit nine out of his 10 attempts on goal. Off in 64th minute.
11. Mark Telea – 8
Did his usual damage on attack but it was his defence that perhaps impressed the most. Busted through a couple of tackles en route to the try line. A big tackle off a high-ball chase almost created a turnover. Made one nice cover tackle. Came close to grabbing a second try late in the third quarter and while he wasn’t able to beat Ange Capuozzo to the ball, he turned around and chased down the Italian wing down, forcing a turnover. Moments later, Telea created a try for Papali’i with a damaging run in the midfield.
12. Jordie Barrett – 9
An excellent return to the field. A perfectly-weighted kick-pass sent Will Jordan in for the first try of the night. Forced one breakdown penalty, getting over the ball quickly after making the tackle. Ran a nice line between two Italian defenders to set up Aaron Smith’s third touch down. Absorbed a couple of big hits from the Azzurri defence. Found good ground with his line kicking but missed touch with one effort. Snuck in a couple of nice flick passes in the midfield. Copped one penalty for not rolling away at the ruck. Off in 64th minute.
13. Rieko Ioane – 4
Regularly made the wrong decision with the ball, running when he should have passed, passing when he should’ve gone into contact. Exposed on defence a couple of times – his failure to bring Monty Ioane to ground resulted in Italy grabbing their only try of the match. Quick hands delivered the ball to Dane Coles for his second touch down.
14. Will Jordan – 7
Did well to plant the ball over the line with a flying dive to grab NZ’s first try. Grabbed a second from a nice kick-and-chase. Always looked threatening on the counter attack and caused plenty of problems down the right-hand flank for Italy. Kicking wasn’t always up to snuff.
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15. Beauden Barrett – 7
Regularly stepped into first receiver and never put a foot wrong. Sent one kick-off directly into touch. Showed off his class in the build-up to Telea’s try.
Reserves:
16. Dane Coles – 7
On in 57th minute. Matched his efforts off the bench in 2021, when he scored two tries. Looked good in the wide channels and hit his lineout targets.
17. Tamaiti Williams – 7
On in 50th minute. Maintained New Zealand’s dominance at the scrum, earning two tightheads.
18. Tyrel Lomax – 7
On in 50th minute. Forced one penalty at scrum time.
19. Sam Whitelock – 5
On in 50th minute. Threw the ball to no one on attack – but at least New Zealand were working with an advantage. Now the most capped All Black of all time.
20. Sam Cane – 6
On in 57th minute. A lovely draw and pass off a lineout sent Coles away for his try. Dropped one ball cold.
21. Cam Roigard – 8
On in 50th minute. Made a great dash down the tramways to almost a score a try but was pinged for a double movement. Showed a quick pair of heels to set up a try for Anton Lienert-Brown. Almost managed to tackle Monty Ioane into touch with a nice effort on defence. Well and truly cemented his spot as NZ’s second-best halfback.
22. Damian McKenzie – 8
On in 64th minute. Sparked a nice break down the right-hand flank with his first touch – a perfect skip pass out to Jordan on the wing. Scored when he next got his next hands on the ball, showing a clean pair of heels and cutting between two Italian defenders. Clocked up an impressive 75 metres off the bench. Made one important cover tackle when Italy were looking likely. Continued the good goal-kicking, succeeding with his two attempts on the poles.
23. Anton Lienert-Brown – 7
On in 64th minute. Looked dangerous in the midfield and ran good lines off his teammates. Made one excellent covering hit on Paolo Odogwu.
Comments on RugbyPass
Self proclaimed expert/pundit Andy Goode and his very personal views on referees…Why recalling them in such an article as if he were an undisputed authority on the subject ? Only because fellow writer ?
1 Go to commentsLate growth spurts are a common problem over here. I’m well over 30, and I just started having a growth spurt too. Could be a world class prop soon.
1 Go to commentsas much as the challenge cup is a bit of a nothing competition, winning it would still mean something. last year it was won by toulon, who are now something like 4th in the top 14? The year before it was won by Lyon a season before they finished 3rd in the league. The year before that the final was contested by Montpellier and Leicester - 12 months before they both became domestic champions. That should give Gloucester fans some hope.
1 Go to commentsgreat article - although I can’t help wonder whether the more relevant debate over coming years will be between Ford and Fin Smith!
2 Go to commentsMaking Scott Barrett captain might be a masterstroke….will calm him down & stop brain fades and also take pressure off Ardie, so he can just play his natural monster game. Lets see how that all pans out🧐
8 Go to commentsI’m surprised Scotland are planning to rest key players this summer - I don’t think any other tier 1 nation will be doing the same?
2 Go to commentsGreat analysis Brett and what a shame that RA haven't spent more on the tight five instead. BTW I see the latest 8-9 Combo has dropped, looking forward to that. It's incredible the amount of damage that Hamish and Eddie's egos did in such a short space of time. From memory Eddie drove the initial drive to poach league stars way back in the 00s, with community rugby paying the price in reduced funding. Australia went from 15% of its income being spent on community rugby in 2002 to 2.4% in 2015, sheer madness and look where they are now. Hamish reminds me of Scrappy Doo. Always mouthing off, spoiling for a fight with bigger dogs who'd eat him alive. Sadly RA didn't have a Scooby Doo to bail him out.
12 Go to comments*_“I love watching bone-shuddering tackles, brutal clear-outs, monster ball carries, and crushingly intense scrummaging. I love it. These things make my heart rate spike. These aren’t the only things I love about rugby, but I feel no need to pretend I don’t love them, or to apologise for loving them just in case someone thinks I shouldn’t.”_* beautifully put Flats🔥
3 Go to comments“Hidden comments” all over the place😂 Turlough’s been a busy little boy ey🤭
86 Go to commentsit’ll all be released in an autobiography a few years from now….. “Razor shafted me” blah blah blah. thinking of making Scott Barrett captain might be a good move. Could calm down his brain fades & make him an even better player for them
3 Go to commentsSadly he played far too many games too young. England and France really do need to look after their younger players better.
1 Go to commentsHaving finally been able to watch the first Chasing the Sun (thanks RugbyPass!) - because I refuse to pay DSTV's extortionate monthly fee in SA - after four years, it was amazing to see Mapimpi's story as well as seeing my personal hero, Rassie, breaking down when telling it. There _is_ hope for the country, but only once we've got rid of the crooked and incompetent ANC (and others) who have set out to destroy it. Viva Rassie, viva Kolisi viva rugby!
1 Go to commentsWhether true or not, all the best to you Sam Cane. A warrior of a player and a loyal servant to the ABs! Go get you some yen and have some fun.
3 Go to commentsThe game was changing too much with teams trying to role the dice drawing fouls. Would be better if scrums and the adjudicating problems were resolved but this is a good immediate fix.
42 Go to commentsLike many here I am encouraged by this post. Our forwards are where the real rewards and improvements must come from. With a 50/50 pack against any opposition, our backs could ensure more than 50% of the games will be won. We need Valetini at 6 and Cale at 8 to make the most or a good tight 5, McWright will add to the effectiveness of the pack BUT must get a very good tight 5 out there first.
121 Go to commentsThe key point I think that is missing is that if Joseph wants to guarantee a Lions spot, he really has to play wing in his first year. He is easily going to nail down whatever he wants to do, but with just half a season, how much of a factor he proves to be in the Lions series could be dictated by this initial choice of playing position.
12 Go to commentsthe game was 2 weeks before the challenge cup final. I really don’t believe they needed to rest that many players.
1 Go to commentsI really feel like neither of the Vunipolas is given the respect they deserve. I would have liked to see both of them get a few more caps than they have gotten in the past couple of years, but unfortunately the fact that they both peaked young has meant that for a number of years they have been perceived as disappointments. When they are both retired, in the cold light of day they will be recognised as two of the best players of their generation of any nation.
4 Go to commentsthis generation of saracens players could produce some really incredible coaches. When Farrell retires he could walk into any premiership team as a defence, attack, or kicking coach. Itoje could make it as a defence or a lineout coach, and Jamie George as a lineout or scrum coach. The problem the Vunipolas are going to have is that its not clear what their coaching speciality would be. Neither are great in the set piece, and while they were good in attack and defence, they were never tactical masterminds. Perhaps contact skills would be their ideal brief? Mako perhaps could work in strength & conditioning, but Billy has a bit of a reputation for not taking that side of the game seriously.
4 Go to commentsA very good player.We are finally getting some balance in our team. Plummer..Heem ..Lam a solid..experienced combo who take the sensible options consistently. Clarke was a grt impact of the bench option until Lam moved to 13 to replace an injured Reiko. Cotter is doing a grt job building his team. .
1 Go to comments