Rugby Live

Finished Marseille

New-Zealand 76 - Italy 14

New Zealand

Italy

  1. All Blacks thump Italy

    All Blacks thump Italy

    World Cup favourites New Zealand completed a 76-14 destruction of an awe-struck Italy side in their Pool C opener in Marseille on Saturday. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:80'
    • New Zealand
    • Italy
    • 80' Ref blows for full time and the All Blacks have sent out a clear message with 11 tries. They certainly look the team to beat as they thrash the Italians 76-14.
    • 78' Italian forwards driving All Blacks back, the ball comes to De Marigny who chips over New Zealand defence and after a scramble over the try line replacement Galon touches down, but ref sees some foul play and does not award the try.
    • 77' Howlett clears up on his own line after some decent play from Italy but the All Blacks manage to relieve the pressure.
    • 72' De Marigny makes it 76-14.
    • 72' Stanojevic makes a rae break for Italy, Mirco Bergamasco takes the pass chips ahead and touches down for the Azzuri's second try. 76-12.
    • 70' Carter makes it 79-7.
    • 69' Superb take by Jack from the restart and the big lock charges up field, finds Lauaki and takes the return pass, before finding Collins, who chips ahead and touches down for his second try in as many minutes!! 74-7.
    • 69' Carter makes it 69-7.
    • 68' Now its Collins' turn to get on the scoresheet, the powerful flanker following up after Howlett kicks ahead. 67-2.
    • 61' Mauger on for All Blacks.
    • 59' Hat-trick for Howlett, who latches on to MacAlister's chip through and touches down in the right corner. 62-7. Howlett joins Christian Cullen as All Blacks all-time leading try scorer with 47 tries.
    • 58' Leonard on for Kelleher.
    • 57' Carter with simple conversion makes it 57-7.
    • 56' Collins charges at the Italy defence, offloads to Muliaina, who finds Howlett and there's no stopping the Kiwi flyer as he touches down under the Italy posts. 55-7.
    • 54' Big tackle by Howlett on Stanojevic but Italy retain possession and keep the ball alive through Mauri Bergamasco, who is hauled down 15m from All Blacks line.
    • 51' Carter slots conversion as All Blacks reach the half-century. 50-7.
    • 50' Nice passing from All Blacks off a line-out and Jack bursts through the Italy defence and scores under the posts! Try number seven - poor tackling Italy! 48-7.
    • 48' Nice interplay between Kelleher and his locks Williams and Jack, before the ball is knocked on.
    • 46' Howlett fails to gather a high ball and Italy win posession and move the ball through the hands and retain it well. Good spell for Italy.
    • 43' Italy keeping the ball tight and taking advantage of the extra man up front. But they concede penalty and All Blacks kick into Italy half.
    • 42' Lo Cicero and Hayman enjoy a little scuffle. Good to see the Italy prop showing some passion. Haymans gets pinged for a punch and sent to the bin.
    • 41' Perugini replaced by Lo Cicero at half-time.
    • 41' Italy get the second half underway. What has Pierrre Berbizier said to his side at half-time and will it make any difference?
    • 40' Ref blows for half time - it's difficult to tell whether New Zealand have been spectacular or Italy a shambles. Bit of both probably. Either way, Italy have it all to do in the second half!
    • 38' De Marigny slots simple conversion to make it 43-7.
    • 37' Good scrum from Italy and excellent kick, bu8t MacDonald again takes the mark and takes a quick tap as New Zealand move up field. But Stanojevic intercepts and runs 60m to score under the posts. At last some success for Italy! 43-5.
    • 35' Nice work from Italy down the left wing. The Azzuri gradually making their presence felt and win a penalty before kicking for the corner. They win the line-out but then lose the ball!
    • 32' Italy have actually forced an attacking position through their supposedly powerful pack. They've retained possession well but have not broken the gain line at all!
    • 28' Bergamasco kicks ahead but MacDonald takes the mark easily, then takes a quick tap and breaks upfield, feeds Williams who finds Sivivatu for his second try and New Zealand's sixth! 43-0!
    • 27' Nice step from Bortolussi, who makes a few yards and feeds Parisse, but the number eight drops the simple pass!
    • 24' Italy starting to find their footing a little now and at least putting in some big tackles. Where have they been for the first 20 minutes though!
    • 19' Carter again. 38-0.
    • 18' Italy win line-out and finally move the ball wide, but All Blacks force a turnover and Carter chips over, Sivivatu gathers and scores try number five! 36-0! This is a joke! Come on Italy!
    • 15' Carter makes it 31-10 with conversion.
    • 14' Another mess in the Italy defense with Bortolussi failing to gather a chip ahead and allowing Muliaina in under the posts. 29-0 New Zealand!
    • 13' Another nicely-taken conversion by Carter extends All Blacks lead to 24-0, with less than 15 minutes played!
    • 13' Sivivatu breaks down the left, the ball is moved through the hands to Howlett on the right wing who cuts inside for another try! 22-0 New Zealand.
    • 11' Penalty for New Zealand and another chance for Carter to extend their lead, which he does to 17-0.
    • 7' Carter makes it 14-0 with nicely struck conversion.
    • 6' Kelleher makes a break down the blindside and find McCaw - who else - who crashes over for another try! 12-0 New Zealand. Dream start for New Zealand and nightmare start for Italy!!
    • 2' Carter makes it 7-0 with simple conversion.
    • 1' The All Blacks kick off and immdeiately force a line-out of the Italy 22m, from which mccaw burts through for their opening try. After 64 seconds! New Zealand 5-0 ahead already!!
    • - The All Blacks have been forced into making a few late changes. Conrad Smith drops out with a hamstring injury so Mils Muliaina moves from full-back to centre, with Leon MacDonald now starting at 15.
    • - It's a warm afternoon in Marseille and the All Blacks will have no excuses if they do not lay down a marker in this game.
    • - Welcome back to Europsport.com's live online coverage of the 2007 World Cup. After the shock result in last night's opening game - when hosts France went down to Argentina - it's the turn of tournament favourites New Zealand to show what they can do. It has been 20 long years since the All Blacks lifted the Webb Ellis trophy and they will be determined to put in a good show today.

  • Summary

    New Zealand versus Italy
    McCaw 2’, 7’, Howlett 12’, 56’, 59’, Muliaina 15’, Sivivatu 18’, 29’, Jack 50’, Collins 68’, 70’ Tries Stanojevic 38’, Bergamasco 72’
    Carter 2’, 8’, 13’, 15’, 19’, 50’, 57’, McAlister 69’, 71’ Conversions Bortolussi 39’, De Marigny 72’
    Carter 11’ Penalties  
      Drops  

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: M. Berdos

  • New Zealand

    Manager: Graham Henry

    On the Field

    • Woodcock
    • Mealamu Substitution Out (53′)
    • Hayman Yellow Card
    • Jack Try
    • Williams Substitution Out (68′)
    • Collins Tries×2
    • McCaw Tries×2
    • So'oialo
    • Kelleher Substitution Out (53′)
    • Carter Substitution Out (63′)
    • Sivivatu Tries×2
    • McAlister
    • Muliaina Try Substitution Out (0′)
    • Howlett Tries×3
    • MacDonald

    Subs

    • Oliver Substitution In (53′)
    • Mauger Substitution In (62′)
    • Evans
    • Lauaki Substitution In (68′)
    • Tialata
    • Mascoe
    • Leonard Substitution In (53′)

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None

  • Italy

    Manager: Pierre Berbizier

    On the Field

    • Perugini Yellow Card
    • Ongaro
    • Castrogiovanni
    • Dellape
    • Bortolami
    • Zanni Substitution Out (42′)
    • Bergamasco
    • Parisse
    • Troncon Substitution Out (66′)
    • De Marigny
    • Stanojevic Try
    • Bergamasco Try
    • Masi
    • Robertson
    • Bortolussi Substitution Out (65′)

    Subs

    • Festuccia
    • Lo Cicero Substitution In (45′)
    • Galon Substitution In (65′)
    • Canale
    • Griffen Substitution In (66′)
    • Bernabo
    • Vosawai Substitution In (42′)

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None