Rugby: More trench warfare for All Blacks

Italian veteran Marco Bortolami says his side must slow the All Blacks' ball down to have a chance on Saturday. Photo / Getty Images

The All Blacks can brace for another grinding evening of test rugby against an Italy side intent on matching France's muscular approach in Christchurch on Saturday.

Seventy-five test lock Marco Bortolami made no effort to hide the Italian tactics, quickly devised after watching France overwhelm New Zealand 27-22 at Dunedin two weeks ago and then push the world's top-ranked team close at Wellington last Saturday before going down 14-10.

His pack stood strong in two tests against Australia and it would be a major surprise if they don't try to launch driving mauls and hurl bodies at the tackle to prevent the open style the hosts intend to play at AMI Stadium.

"It was very interesting to see how the French forwards put the All Blacks under pressure, at the breakdown especially," Bortolami said.

"In the second test, the All Blacks got it right. They had a lot of intensity.

"The key thing against the southern hemisphere teams is that you slow down their ball, otherwise they play too quick and it's very difficult to defend against them."

Former captain Bortolami was another Italian to express his desire to simply keep the scoreline respectable.

Either this is a team ruse to make the All Blacks loosen off or the Azzurri genuinely believe they have no chance of overturning their nine-test winless record against the All Blacks, eight of which have been high-scoring romps.

Gloucester forward Bortolami said his young side will find Saturday's test a level above what they endured in the Six Nations, where they failed to win a game this year.

"We struggle to compete against (New Zealand) because they are powerful but also very smart. When you play against England, they are just powerful and if you tackle them, that's it," he said.

"When you play the All Blacks, they find space and you start to miss tackles because you are late in your defensive positioning. They have quick ball, which is very difficult to defend."

One man who knows what to expect is All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith, who played in Italy in the late 1980s and coached leading club Benetton from 1992-94. One of the players he tutored was long-serving Italian halfback Alessandro Troncon, now an assistant to Italy coach Nick Mallett.

Smith expected Italy to adopt a similar rush defence to that employed by the French, which stifled nearly every All Blacks attempt to attack wide.

"Their 10, 12 and 13 come up pretty quick. I think a lot of teams will look at what the French did to shut us down and learn from that," Smith said.

"We thought we knew what we were going to get from the French but they changed for that first test.

"You can prepare for the most likely, but you believe nothing."

Smith acknowledged the All Blacks backs were loaded with individually gifted players - including halves Brendon Leonard and Luke McAlister in their first test starts for nearly two years - but said the French tests had proved backline play can be rendered impotent without the hard yards.

"Our intention is to play, we'd be silly not to with the tools we've got," Smith said.

"Our strikes in Wellington were better than our strikes in Dunedin, simply because we got better front foot ball.

"We wouldn't be a pass mark yet in attack."

The return of Ali Williams from injury should aid the forward play considerably, replacing Isaac Ross.

Bortolami, who scored a 40m try at Hamilton in 2002 in his first test as captain, said a Williams-Brad Thorn combination was a genuine All Blacks strength.

"They are very powerful. Ross is very good in the lineout but probably doesn't have the same power in the game as Ali Williams has."

Bortolami has been relieved of the captaincy by the team's sole world class player, No 8 Sergio Parisse, who made his debut in that same Hamilton test when introduced by coach John Kirwan as a 19-year-old.

- NZPA