KEY POINTS:
As suddenly as the World Cup blazed into life, predictions rose and fell about the outcome in Paris in late October.
There was dismay from the hosts, beaten by Argentina in the tournament opener, uncertainty about a sluggish England while All Black and Wallaby supporters were in frothy moods after their demolition victories.
With Italy, on the basis of some solid Six Nations work and a recent narrow loss to Ireland, forecast to give the All Blacks a decent contest yesterday at Marseille, the 60,000 crowd at Stade Velodrome were stunned by the margin. So were the bewildered Italians who had made all sorts of pre-match noise about defying the tournament favourites.
The All Blacks played some scorching rugby on a blazing hot afternoon, dealing out a 76-14 thrashing as they showed few signs of their minimalist rugby schedule since winning the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup series. Captain Richie McCaw scored after 64 seconds, had another five minutes later and with a likely rout ensuing, the crowd started the cursed Mexican wave. The All Blacks onslaught continued, 38-0 ahead inside the first quarter and nary a mistake on their stats sheet. They boasted all the possession, Daniel Carter had the ball on an elastic rope as the speed and passing interplay of the World Cup favourites bewildered the Azurri.
Some of the momentum slowed in the heat and at one stage the crowd had to wait an entire 12 minutes between All Blacks touchdowns.
There were some untidy moments but 11 tries to two was a massive result. Too fast, too clinical, too powerful, too enterprising - take your pick.
The comparison with the limited French side in their defeat and the cumbersome English could not be ignored. Tri-Nations rugby is at a different level to the Six Nations, especially on the hard, fast grounds in the daytime in the south of France. It suited the All Blacks. They are in peak physical condition and they exhibited the decisions, teamwork, patterns and skills which they have been building in the past few years.
Conditions will change markedly in Cardiff and late evening kickoffs in Paris and the All Blacks will face much tougher rivals in the playoffs but they delivered a strong statement yesterday about how tough they will be to bowl.
Coach Graham Henry offered his predictable assessment that the Italians had been more competitive than the scoreboard indicated and that the All Blacks had not "overdone it" before the World Cup and the result showed the benefits of that decision.
Then he tried to tone down the assessments, acknowledging the All Blacks could be undercooked for the quarters after Portugal and Romania and if Scotland used their second stringers for their pool match. He also offered the thought that France would still feature strongly in the tournament, that they may have suffered a mental block in their opening game against the Pumas. It smelled more of Henry thinking ahead in case the All Blacks ended up playing France in a quarter-final in Cardiff.
Whatever the quality of the Italians, this was an impressive All Blacks start, a side tuned in to their work, who have balanced their off-field obligations with the primary duty of playing effective rugby.
Early days, yes. Just like the romping start against Italy in Melbourne four years ago but the All Blacks have shown a standard which others need to achieve.
