New Zealand players perform the Haka before a rugby union international match between Italy and All Blacks New Zealand at Rome's Olympic Stadium. Photo / AP
New Zealand players perform the Haka before a rugby union international match between Italy and All Blacks New Zealand at Rome's Olympic Stadium. Photo / AP
The best reaction from the All Blacks' 47-9 win over Italy this morning (NZT)
Worst first quarter in memory
AP
"An entirely new starting XV from that which crushed Wales 54-16 last weekend took nearly half an hour to settle down at the Stadio Olimpico. At that point, New Zealand stopped throwing the ball around and messing up and went the direct route by outmuscling the Italian pack. It wasn't pretty but it was effective.
"Their 47 points lifted them to 675 points, a record for a calendar year. New Zealand surpassed the 658 of South Africa's world champions in 2007.Their seven tries also gave them 96 on the year, eclipsing the 92 by Argentina in 2003.
"But records were far from consideration the way the All Blacks started. They committed six handling errors and six penalties in one of their worst first quarters in memory. Many were unforced despite Italy's pressure."
Scoring points, but this is bloody average, no look passes, lack of support and cover, ball watching.. Need some back to basics, I feel. Value possession and outcomes.. The score is flattering #ITAvNZL#AllBlackspic.twitter.com/IwgXtYAd2V
— Graeme Mead on Waikato's All Sports Breakfast Show (@mintie38) November 6, 2021
So we’ve got England racking up a cricket score against Tonga and the All Blacks demolishing Italy. Yet somehow we don’t get England playing the All Blacks this year. These autumn fixtures are pointless if the big matchups people want to see don’t happen.
Ian Foster: "We've had to make sure we grow depth on this tour because we've got players here for a long time and we're delighted with the progress out of that. Tonight is another really good learning curve for a number of newer players.
"We got put under a lot of pressure in that first 25 minutes and they found ways to slow the ball down. We tried to force our game a little bit and a lot of that was the pressure they put us under. They deserve a lot of credit for the way they started. I was pleased with the way we started to tighten our game up after a few errors and applied a lot of pressure on them, mainly through our set piece.
Sam Cane: "There were some testing times out there in terms of the frustration levels when we couldn't get the game going how we would normally like to but it was a pretty good learning experience for a lot of the young guys," Cane said.
"It probably highlighted the lack of experience when we were trying to set up for the haka and a lot of guys wanted to be in the back row. I was proud of the way we didn't allow frustrations to creep in and affect our game too much."
New Zealand's Hoskins Sotutu, right, passes the ball during a rugby union international match between Italy and All Blacks. Photo / AP
Ian Foster made wholesale changes to hand many fringe prospects the chance to impress against Italy. Those hoping to further their cases instead conspired to serve up an error strewn match which will leave Foster much more certain about reinstating many of his starting preferences next week.
If you recorded this match with the intention of watching it back over breakfast, be prepared for unpleasant Sunday morning viewing.
"For that to happen, the All Blacks needed to produce a flowing, cohesive performance: one where they got the basics of their game spot on and then iced it with their usual element of pass and catch brilliance.
"That great hope went unfulfilled. It was pass and catch tragic, not magic from the All Blacks on a day when their basics fell apart and they looked troubled and frantic, not mentally attuned to the task at all."
