All Blacks 76 Italy 14
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The rugby world is now officially scared. And they should be, too, after the All Blacks shredded an Italian team with the same frenzied precision jilted lovers have been known to go through their ex's wardrobes.
As a statement of intent, this was unambiguous - the All Blacks are here to bury the past. They are here to play clinical, ruthless rugby at a breathtaking pace.
It took them barely 20 minutes to score almost 40 points and Italy had no idea what had just hit them. The Italians are no mugs - they beat Wales and Scotland in this year's Six Nations - yet they were made to look like a club side who had taken a wrong turning and ended up at the Stade Veledrome.
They had barely finished snubbing the haka when Richie McCaw was thundering towards the line after Ali Williams had broken free from a lineout.
McCaw was back over the chalk five minutes later and all those hoping, maybe even praying the All Blacks had stuffed up in going without a game for seven weeks, realised they were clinging to nothing.
That constant diet of training has conditioned Graham Henry's side into one of the fittest to ever play the game and has built their hunger for real action.
McCaw pitched up just about everywhere and Williams tended to be on his shoulder most of the time. The aggression was obvious. So, too, the athleticism and speed but the rugby sharpness was a surprise.
There was always a suspicion the All Blacks might take a good 40 minutes to find their rhythm, to acclimatise to the physicality and patterns of test football.
They didn't even need 40 seconds. From the kickoff, their was a cohesion about the forwards, a cleverness and awareness to their play.
Body positions were exemplary and no one took the soft route of dunking their head down, simply looking for contact. It was head up football, with players working hard to stay on their feet and find the space.
No one did that better then Dan Carter, who had the look of a man who wants to finish this tournament as the undisputed best player in the world.
That effortless grace was back in abundance. Bodies buzzed around him but Carter never had a hint of panic.
He'd pick his option like he was choosing an ice-cream and the game flowed around him. Twice he realised the space was just behind the Italians and he dinked beautifully weighted chip kicks for Mils Muliaina and Sitiveni Sivivatu to score.
Carter's line kicking was also staggeringly long and twice he thumped the ball almost 40 metres using the outside of his boot to flight the ball against the grain.
And when Carter wasn't available, Luke McAlister stepped up as first receiver and borrowed an old ploy of Sir Clive Woodward's of pushing the ball long up the middle, which cuts down the options.
Italian fullback David Bortolussi appeared to have only one option which was to slice the ball into touch and that simply gave the ball straight back to the All Blacks whose lineout held together without ever really making anyone feel entirely secure about its prospects going forward.
The thing is, though, even when the opposition gets tougher and the tension mounts in the coming weeks, the All Black lineout might not really be that relevant.
The All Blacks might be untouchable if the pack continues to work so effectively in the tight exchanges. There is no evidence that any other side has the ability to build momentum through their forwards with the same bludgeon and rapier combination on view in Marseilles yesterday. It will be a surprise if any other team has a No 8 who can match Rodney So'oialo for work-rate.
It is the skill and intensity of the All Blacks that is likely to set them apart and their ability to capitalise on opportunities.
In the opening game in Paris, there was some tasty rough staff and oodles of passion. There wasn't the same clinical edge, though, as we saw when Doug Howlett equalled Christian Cullen's all-time try-scoring record with his third of the match and 46th of his career. Howlett and fellow wing Sivivatu just needed the faintest sniff of a chance to bag five tries between them and it's the fact that from one to 15, the All Blacks pose such a deadly threat, which has the rest of the world running scared.
SCORING:
New Zealand 76 (R. McCaw (2), D. Howlett (3), M. Muliaina, S. Sivivatu (2), C. Jack, J. Collins (2) tries, D. Carter pen, 7 cons; L. McAlister 2 cons) Italy 14 (M. Stanojevic, M. Bergamasco tries; D. Bortolussi con; R. de Marigny con)
