All Blacks vs Italy takes: Tale of two Italian sides, Moorby made for it

An explosion of points in the second half saw the All Blacks blow Italy off the park by 47-17 at Hnry Stadium in Wellington.

It was a record breaking night for right wing Will Jordan, becoming the first All Black to reach 50 Test tries, while Josh Moorby and Anton Segner made their debuts.

Debutant Josh Moorby proved to be a game changer while the Italians let a promising start turn into a nightmare in the Capital.

Italian wall resolute until it wasn’t

The All Blacks tried to run over the Italians in the first half and found it hard going. Their runners were chopped low behind the gain line frequently while line breaks were few and far between.

The home side kicked just four times a they tried to pound the Italian wall. One barge over try to Sam Darry and one try to Will Jordan from a brilliant Jordie Barrett left foot grubber were all they could profit from as they were held to a four point lead at half-time at 14-10.

The Italian backrow featuring Ross Vintcent, Michele Lamaro and Lorenzo Cannone led the strong defence, with Vintcent and Cannone racking up double digit tackles in the first 40.

The Italians were well and truly in the contest at the half-time break. All Blacks were persistent with their ball-in-hand strategy, opting for the attrition approach. It seemed to work with the dam breaking early in the second half.

Josh Moorby with a dream debut

The man to change the All Blacks’ fortunes was debutant Josh Moorby. A bolter selection after a great season with the Hurricanes, Moorby proved he is made for Test rugby.

A first half injury to Leroy Carter saw Moorby come on earlier than he probably expected in the 31st minute, but the Hurricanes’ hero quickly helped the All Blacks get away from the Italians.

With his first touch early in the second half he broke down the left side for a huge line break before feeding Roigard back inside for the try assist. After a great tackle down on own line, he chased down a long kick after the Italians turned the ball over. He was pulled in just shy of a try on debut, but after a few phases Ethan de Groot crashed over from close range.

Moments later he had another assist, this time after a short side raid got him free again. An easy pass back inside to Will Jordan gave the Crusader equal share of the all-time try scoring record held by Doug Howlett with 49.

The 10-minute burst of three tries, all with key Moorby involvements, were critical in the All Blacks putting distance on the scoreboard from the Azzurri.

Jordan goes number one 

It was a historic night for Will Jordan who became the first All Black to reach 50 tries. The record was within reach heading into the night but few would’ve banked on Jordan bagging three to go outright, but once he found himself inside Carter for the first the chase was on.

His second came running inside Moorby for another untouched effort, while the third featured a trademark cutout ball from Jordie Barrett following a quick tap. The bridge pass found Jordan in space and he had too much pace to touch down in the corner.

The wing was humbled to surpass all the big names of All Black rugby post-match, lost for words in coming to terms with the feat. Over his 50, the two most memorable to him were both against Ireland.

The first of his picks came in the 2022 deciding Test at the same ground in Wellington, an 80-metre effort that sent the crowd into delirium as the All Blacks’ closed the deficit. Unfortunately that effort would be in vain. The second was in the quarter-final against Ireland in 2023, another long-range effort that came at a crucial time.

Bench lacked the punch to finish strong

Apart from Moorby, who came in during the first half, the All Blacks bench failed to really lift the side.

In fact, the sting came out of the tail a bit as the bench was emptied ahead of the final quarter.

Captain Ardie Savea came off for lock Josh Lord, meaning Tupou Vaa’i shifted to blindside, Wallace Sititi to No.8, and Anton Segner at openside.

The All Blacks didn’t a score a point from the 54th until the 80th minute, and until a pick and go try to Tupou Vaa’i on the buzzer, threatened to leave with the final quarter scoreless.

Star halfback Cam Roigard went off in the 57th minute and with him went the instinct playmaking around the rucks. Replacement Cortez provided great service, but the variability in the All Blacks game went.

Centre Anton Lienert-Brown made his return to Test rugby with a lively game but again, lacked game breaking ability. He had space to run in the wide channels and the drift defence closed and ultimately shut him down.

Up front, a couple of poor turnovers from George Bower soured his impact.

Rennie labeled the finish as ‘disappointing’ and the All Blacks learnt that this probably wasn’t their best impact unit, Moorby aside.