Rome win: New Zealand
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New Zealand extended their unbeaten run to 19 games with a 42-10 win over Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
The world champions led from start to finish to maintain their perfect record against Italy, who put up a solid challenge in the first half but ultimately couldn't match the visitors' attacking firepower.
New Zealand led 13-7 at half time.
An early score from skipper Kieran Read and two penalties from Aaron Cruden gave the All Blacks their 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
But the Azzurri were still in contention at the interval thanks to a try from centre Alberto Sgarbi.
Ma'a Nonu touched down early in the second period however to give the tourists a healthy lead before Cory Jane put the result beyond doubt.
Julian Savea added two late tries in the space of two minutes as the All Blacks finished strongly.
The visitors scored 29 points to Italy's three after the break but they had to wait 13 minutes for their first points in Rome, which came courtesy of Chiefs playmaker Cruden's close-range penalty goal.
Outside centre Conrad Smith then scooped up a loose ball and sent number eight Read over before fly-half Cruden converted and soon added his second penalty of the match..
Sgarbi crossed in reply with Orquera converting as Italy went into the break only six down.
But the world champion All Blacks turned it on after the break with tries from centre Nonu and wing duo Jane and Savea saw them claim a comfortable victory at the Stadio Olimpico.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Try: Sgarbi
Con: Orquera
Drop: Orquera
For New Zealand:
Tries: Read, Nonu, Jane, Savea 2
Cons: Cruden 4
Pens: Cruden 3
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovambattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Francesco Minto, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Robert Barbieri, 22 Tobias Botes, 23 Luke McLean.
New Zealand: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Hosea Gear, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Sam Whitelock, 20 Victor Vito, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Dan Carter, 23 Cory Jane.
Venue: Stadio Olimpico
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Comments
georgesmith says...
If not for the soft tries, Italy were in it. Overall Italy was disappointing in not being able to do little things right. Some players gave ABs too much respect.
Posted 01:40 18th November 2012
Rosco1971 says...
@carpelone
Haha if only any other team in world rugby could apparently be that bloody awful and win so convincing. They were clearly the better team and controlled the game. Changed gear when they needed too. Crudeness made a number of line breaks and was solid so not sure what game you were watching.
NZ and France clearly the standout teams in nov. I was impressed by Italy. They have seriously improved. Wales must be sh&$;ing bricks about now
Posted 01:27 18th November 2012
passtheball says...
Italy games always seem to be so scrappy. I think the ref thought he was at a primary school game where you give the underdogs some leniency. He changed in the second and so the game changed too. Not sure Cruden is going to make it in the long term
Posted 00:43 18th November 2012
mlbp says...
Great fight by Italy, but poor handling at times and a couple of mistakes and then you have lost against the AB's again. New Zealand were a bit sluggish at times, others careless, but when they clicked they were able to score easily. They had a bit of an off day.
I wonder if it's necessary to bring on all the subs during a game. What had Gori done wrong to have him riding pine the last 30-odd minutes of the match? I really can't understand coaches at times. Parisse was superb at times but later when he saw the match slipping through his fingers he got lost in the game. Mirco Bergamasco is a true fighter, Zanni is an underrated player, he does all and well...
Conrad Smith may be the best 13 in world rugby at the moment. At least he is the most intelligent.
All in all the match was error-ridden and I'm sorry to disagree, nzmaoriboy, it wasn't fun to watch as for example last week's game against Scotland. But it was fantastic to see Italy playing positive rugby, as they always do.
Posted 22:44 17th November 2012
curlymac says...
the scoreline always flatters the all blacks, but that's because their so clinical they only need one chance that no one else can take to score. It just looks like they were outplayed, look at the scoreboard!!
Posted 22:43 17th November 2012
Melkiwi says...
Well played Italy. Really took it to the abs. Great too see. Just goes to show though to beat the abs you MUST play for the 80 min. However very average game by the blackness they will be very disappointed by their preformance. But hey they still won by 32 points so ok effort. Once again well done Italy for making it a great game
Posted 22:35 17th November 2012
Darth_Hans says...
Great to see Italy take it to NZ! They need to continue to play the ABs regularly to push themselves upwards! Fair criticism of some of the All Blacks, but Italy gave us a good run. I bet most countries would LOVE to make 14 changes to a previous lineup an still win 42-10...
Posted 21:48 17th November 2012
qwerty says...
carpelone
...bloody awful, outplayed and still won 42-10, bloody awful indeed...
Posted 20:09 17th November 2012
7ton says...
Carpelone
Yes a good effort by Italy and the All Blacks were put under a fair bit of pressure on quite a few occassions. Italy did make a mess of their scrum a couple of times but then the All Blacks did get the better in the scrum a few times as well. As for Woodcock boring in how about the Italian front row coming up a few times and hand on the ground. Overall it evens out.
Cheers
Posted 18:45 17th November 2012
westwest says...
Good on the Italians! The first half was a great match, the new AB team seemed a bit rusty at first but seemed to come right at the end. I really think that the fitness of the southern hemisphere sides is a huge part of there winning ways. Hope the Italians can carry it through to the next 6 nations, would be great to see them get some good wins.
Posted 18:02 17th November 2012
Terry_English says...
Great to see 80,000 spectators at the match and Italy throwing the ball around. The scrums were well contested and both sides managed to stay up, which made a welcome change.
The scoreline flatters the All Blacks and I wouldn't be surprised to see Italy beat some of their more illustrious neighbours in the six nations.
Conrad Smith had a huge game and I was impressed with young Sam Cane.
Posted 17:44 17th November 2012
carpelone says...
nzmaoriboy
good comment, as always.
Posted 17:20 17th November 2012
carpelone says...
New Zealand rule in Rome?? They were bloody awful. Outplayed by Italy in the first half, they scored three soft tries only later.
Not many positives for New Zealand, Cruden and Barret almost non existent. Conrad Smith is a legend. The Italian scrum gave again a run for their money to New Zealand, only experienced Woodcock (boring in all the time) saved their bacon.
It looked like they expected a much easier game today.
Good Italy, a couple of unlucky offloads and they could have score one or even two more tries.
Good and entertaining game though, Italy attacking after the hoot of the first half was a good sign indeed.
Posted 17:18 17th November 2012
Golden_statenba says...
Thank god there was a head high not called otherwise with no Richie in the team bokavenger would have nothing to write about!
Great first half but ABs went in for the kill once they wore down the passionate Italian team.
Great run for the AB bench players and hope they learnt a lot.
Future captain looks a goodin!
Posted 17:13 17th November 2012
nzmaoriboy says...
Awesome game to watch! the Italians were very impressive at the ruck & even stretched the AB's a couple times. Its a great spectacle when teams turn up to play positive ruggers..Even the Ref appeared to be in on the festive atmosphere! Cool stadium and vocal crowd what more could you ask for. Anyone else think Italy's substitutions pretty much killed their momentum? And it appears the AB's are unwilling to give up penalties at the ruck, this is the 2nd game in a row where they have been repeatedly hussled of the ball. Woodcock had an awesome game in the scrum..And the YETI (Castrigovanni) was great around the park! hows that for role reversals? Good on you both teams
Posted 16:49 17th November 2012
melkdave says...
Again only saw the 1st 30 mins ,but it did look,a good oneand so glad i saw Italy score the try
Posted 16:30 17th November 2012