NZ beat Italy 76-14
Rugby: MARSEILLE, France, Sept 8, 2007 Hot tournament
favourites New Zealand got their World Cup campaign off to the ideal
start at the Stade Velodrome here with a scintillating 76-14 rout of
Pool C rivals Italy.
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Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône FRANCE : New Zealand’s lock Ali
Williams (up) runs past Italy’s fly-half Alessandro Troncon
during their rugby union World Cup 2007 group C match at the
Velodrome stadium in Marseille. AFP |
The contest was dead and buried after the first 20 breathless
minutes, during which the All Blacks scored five converted tries against
an Italian team shown up to be woefully inept in their early defensive
alignment.
Dominant in all aspects of the game, the All Blacks scored 11 tries
in total through Richie McCaw (2), Doug Howlett (3) - who is now joint
equal try scorer in All Black history with Christian Cullen on 46 - Mils
Muliaina, Sitiveni Sivivatu (2), Chris Jack, Jerry Collins (2), with a
further 17 points coming from the boot of Dan Carter and six from Luke
McAlister.
Italy, last season's Six Nations over-achievers after wins over
Scotland and Wales, hit back with a Marko Stanojevic intercept try and a
late effort from Mirco Bergamasco.
With the Italian defence static and aligned wide, McCaw took a sharp
inside pass from outstanding lock Ali Williams from the first line-out
and streaked through from 20 metres out and under the posts unopposed.
McCaw crashed over for his second just minutes later after taking a
blindside pop from Byron Kelleher.
The Kiwis kept the early onslaught up, Howlett finishing off a
scintillating move started by Sivivatu. And two Carter chips over a
struggling Italian defence resulted in tries for Muliaina and Sivivatu
to make it 38-0 to the All Blacks after just 20 minutes.
Italy then enjoyed a rare parity in possession and territory for a
short while, before Sivivatu got his second after Leon MacDonald had
caught the Italian defence napping.
With New Zealand forcing attack, Italy winger Stanojevic pounced on a
loose pass by Kelleher for a try converted by Bortolussi to make it 43-7
at half-time.
Italy offered up slightly more resistance early in the second-half,
but were soon on the receiving end of a second five-try routing over 20
minutes.
Jack opened the floodgates in the 50th minute. Howlett then completed
his hat-trick in quick succession and Collins also scored a brace in two
minutes. |
