With 10 minutes remaining in the first half of this 96-17 demolition of Italy by the All Blacks in Lyon, the old warhorse Brodie Retallick prepared his pack for a scrum by looking at the opposition and shouting “they’re gone”.
The message was far blunter than that and can’t be repeated here, but regardless he was right. From the scrum, the All Blacks won a free kick and from that they won a penalty which resulted in Aaron Smith scoring his third try in 34 minutes. Gone indeed.
“We put a lot of mahi in during the bye week… I’m very proud,” said skipper Ardie Savea as he received his man of the match award.
“We’ve got talent across the board and haven’t really clicked but tonight we played some free rugby and that’s how I want my boys to play.”
The All Blacks were free and they were also clinical and ruthless – all the things they needed to show before a likely quarter-final against Ireland in Paris in a fortnight. The Irish are a different beast entirely but the All Blacks couldn't have done a lot more.
They scored 14 tries to two on the occasion of Sam Whitelock’s record-breaking 149th cap for the All Blacks and the significance of his shift for the final 30 minutes was a large one because the 34-year-old was one of those who provided real impact off the bench along with Cam Roigard, Damian McKenzie, Dane Coles, Anton Lienert-Brown and the two props Tyrel Lomax and Tamaiti Williams, all of whom were outstanding.
Smith had his hat-trick in the first half, with wing Will Jordan scoring a double for his 24th and 25th tries in 27 Tests. Coles scored a popular double, as did Savea, who was brilliant as usual.
The Italians, who rely on tempo to open up teams, were the perfect side for the All Blacks to re-discover their attacking mojo after their defeats to South Africa (in the warm-up) and opener against France and week off in Bordeaux.
They had brief moments on attack and finished with a consolation try for wing Monty Ioane but otherwise were beaten everywhere, including the set piece, and the scrummaging performance in the final half hour by the new front row will please Ian Foster and company hugely.
“They monstered us, didn’t they,” Italy coach Kieran Crowley said. “It was like a training run for them in the end… They played bloody well. We gifted them a few tries around a few errors which was disappointing but chuck it in the bin and we go for next week.”
Italy, with comfortable wins over Namibia and Uruguay going into this match, bore the brunt of a team determined not only to re-take second place in Pool A but to sharpen their tools in doing so.
They looked far better with blindside flanker Shannon Frizell - playing his first match since late July – back in the pack, and likewise with second-five Jordie Barrett, who was returning from injury to play his first match in France.
They were direct, inventive and had a vastly improved skillset from what we’ve seen so far – even in comparison with their demolition of Namibia.
In conceding only two penalties in the first half and finishing with seven against them in total (against Italy’s 14), they showed the requisite discipline which allowed them to build pressure and momentum. Crucially, there were no cards of either colour.
Richie Mo'unga had a fine night in front of goal and was composed alongside the returning Jordie Barrett and behind an outstanding pack. Aaron Smith was sharp and demanding and Mark Telea as elusive as usual.
The only grizzle perhaps for Foster and company will be the All Blacks’ start to the second half. Perhaps they were seduced by the 49-3 halftime score, but they gave up four penalties in six minutes, Jordie Barrett missed a penalty touch finder and Rieko Ioane missed a tackle for Ange Capouzzo to score in the corner.
The response was both impressive and enormous, the All Blacks hitting back with seven tries to put their record 101-3 victory over Italy in the 1999 World Cup under threat in terms of points scored.
“Delighted,” Foster said. “We wanted to make a statement. We felt we had a couple of good weeks but needed to build momentum… we were up against a team we had legitimate concerns about and to put them away like that was hugely pleasing.”
The All Blacks are coming. Uruguay are next on Friday morning before the big one.
All Blacks 96 (Aaron Smith 3, Ardie Savea 2, Will Jordan 2, Dane Coles 2, Mark Telea, Brodie Retallick, Dalton Papali’i, Damian McKenzie, Anton Lienert-Brown tries; Richie Mo’unga 9 cons, McKenzie 3 cons)
Italy 17 (Ange Capuozzo, Monty Ioane tries; Tommason Allan pen, con, Paolo Garbisi con)
Halftime: 49-3
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