New Zealand on Friday put a foot in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals after tearing apart Italy 96-17 with 14 tries in a phenomenal performance.
The All Blacks had to beat Italy to stay in contention for the knockout stages and overwhelmed them in the set-pieces and sliced them up wider out.
They can clinch a quarter-final spot in their last Pool A game against Uruguay on Thursday in the same Lyon stadium.
Photo: AP
“I didn’t see that game coming to that extent,” All Blacks coach Ian Foster said. “I’m not sure too many people did. It was a combination of us playing really well and starting well and I think we took their hope away in the first 20 minutes.”
Italy have one more chance at reaching a first quarter-final when they face hosts France on Friday, also in Lyon.
“They monstered us,” Italy’s New Zealand-born coach Kieran Crowley said of the All Blacks. “I think we won 33 percent of our scrum ball, 50 percent of our lineout ball.
Photo: AP
“We got beaten by a streetwise team that had their backs against the wall,” Crowley said.
“It will be the same for France next week. They’ve got their backs against the wall a little bit, because if they don’t get the points out of the game [against us] they could be on their way home,” he added.
New Zealand scored seven tries in each half and all but one were converted. By halftime, they led 49-3 en route to their fourth-highest Rugby World Cup score.
Photo: AFP
In an 18-minute span in the middle of the first half, New Zealand scored five converted tries, three of them to scrumhalf Aaron Smith for his first hat-trick in his 122nd Test.
Italy came into the match in good form after a rare four straight wins, including over Namibia and Uruguay in the tournament, while the All Blacks were 1-1 after losing to France and defeating Namibia 71-3.
New Zealand also had not played for almost two weeks and reintroduced four key players who had not appeared at the Rugby World Cup while recovering from injuries. Shannon Frizell and Jordie Barrett started, while Sam Cane and Tyrel Lomax came off the bench.
Photo: AP
Many of the All Blacks’ tries came from lineouts as they asserted themselves at set-pieces and monopolized possession, conceding only two penalties before halftime.
Winger Will Jordan scored New Zealand’s first try after six minutes, catching a cross-kick from center Jordie Barrett and taking the corner flag as he dived over. Italy quickly replied with a penalty to Tommaso Allan.
The All Blacks scored five tries from the 16th to the 34th minutes, all of which were converted by flyhalf Richie Mo’unga, who finished with nine out of 10, while his replacement, Damian McKenzie, added four out of four.
Mark Telea took four defenders over the line in a spectacular show of strength after a breakout from New Zealand’s 22 by captain Ardie Savea, who scored two tries in the first half.
“We’ve got talent across the board and we haven’t really clicked, but tonight we played some free rugby and that’s how our boys play,” Savea said. “We put a lot into this week and we got the rewards tonight.”
“It was a final for us,” he said. “It was a do-or-die game. We have to play like this every weekend.”
New Zealand’s discipline broke down at the start of the second half, and Italy took advantage to sweep winger Ange Capuozzo into the corner. His fellow wing Monty Ioane bookended the half with Italy’s second try.
In between those scores was more humiliation.
Smith was replaced in the 49th minute and, at the same time, lock Sam Whitelock took the field for his 149th Test, breaking Richie McCaw’s record of Test caps for New Zealand.
Whitelock immediately had a hand in a try to his locking partner Brodie Retallick from a charged-down clearance.
Then back-rower Dalton Papali’i scored their ninth try after Telea made a strong run from a blown Italy lineout.
McKenzie added a try, Dane Coles got two and Anton Lienert-Brown also touched down.
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