Rampant All Blacks ease past Italy in 14-try World Cup blitz
LYON – The All Blacks have taken a significant step towards a potential quarterfinal showdown with northern hemisphere heavyweights Ireland after easing past Italy 96-17 at the Rugby World Cup.
Some fans on social media dared to dream of an incredible Italian upset ahead of the decisive clash at OL Stadium, but the All Blacks silenced their doubters with a clinical display on Friday night.
Halfback Aaron Smith stole the show with a first-half hat-trick, and world-class backrower Ardie Savea added a pair of tries to the score as New Zealand ran away with a dominant half-time lead.
When referee Matthew Carly blew his whistle for half-time around 9.45 pm, the contest already appeared over. With a half to play, the All Blacks were firmly in control.
As hours turned into minutes and minutes into seconds, the palpable sense of nervousness and excitement could be felt both in the city and later within the packed venue.
Fans from both New Zealand and Italy watched on in anticipation as the All Blacks laid down their challenge with a spine-tingling rendition of Ka Mate.
With the Italian players standing tall, the crowd let out a deafening cheer as both teams got into position ahead of the must-win match.
The opening minute was quite incredible. Both teams showed signs of promise, but the All Blacks emerged the better of the two sides in the battle for territory.
Veteran Aaron Smith dinked a clever kick in behind Italy’s defensive line, and the next couple of minutes favoured the All Blacks.
Following a dropped pass inside the Italian 22, the crowd let out chants of ‘All Blacks, All Blacks, All Blacks’ as Smith fed the ball into an attacking scrum no more than 10 metres out from the try line.
Moments later, Will Jordan reeled in a brilliant cross-field kick from centre Jordie Barrett. Jordan still had some work to do, but an acrobatic finish saw the wing score the first try of the night.
Playmaker Richie Mo’unga nailed the conversion from the right touchline, and New Zealand already looked in control. But Italy showed signs of life with fullback Thomas Allan converting a penalty in the 9th minute.
But it was all New Zealand from there. Tries to Smith, Mark Telea, Ardie Savea and another two from Smith saw the All Blacks race out to a commanding 42-3 lead with six minutes to play in the first.
The Italian players were hurting, or at least that’s how it looked. The match hadn’t gone to script for them so far as the All Blacks ran riot.
New Zealand piled on more misery before the half-time break with rampaging backrower Ardie Savea completing a first-half double with time up on the clock.
The All Blacks took a 46-point lead into the break. They were so dominant, that their commanding lead eclipsed their 47-9 full-time score the last time these two nations met in 2021.
Much to the delight of the Italian supporters watching on in France, wing Ange Capuozzo scored the opening points of the second half with a well-worked try.
Italy refused to throw in the towel, but their valiant efforts were ultimately in vain.
The All Blacks overcame their slow start the only way they knew how. Tries to Brodie Retallick, Dalton Papali’i and Dane Coles saw the Kiwis reach 68 points with 20 minutes to play.
But the New Zealanders were far from done.
Replacement Damian McKenzie sliced through the Italian defensive line to help the All Blacks surge past the 70-point mark, and another try to Will Jordan only made things worse for the Italians.
Tries to Dane Coles and Anton Lienert-Brown helped the All Blacks soar even higher as they recorded a frighteningly dominant win.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments