2023-09-29 20:27:16
New Zealand and Italy face off in Group A of the Rugby World Cup (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)
New Zealand defeated Italy 96-17 on the fourth day of Group A in the Rugby World Cup to show an eloquent display of character in a crucial match that ruled out premature elimination. More than a dozen tries and excellent dead-ball hitting led to an unmitigated victory for the candidates to win their fourth crown.
This defining match was marked by the even stretch of the first minutes. The solidity shown by the All Blacks in the last third of the field forced a rival loss to begin their climb to another team’s field. The aggressive and blocked appearance of the Italian defense inspired the inventiveness of Jordie Barrett to break the deadlock with a great kick on the run of Will Jordan, who scored the first try of the match. Richie Mo’unga then scored the conversion to make it 7-0. Moments later, Tommaso Allan closed the gap with a penalty (7-3).
This start by the Europeans seemed to be a more complex procedure than expected for the oceanic ones, but it only remained a memory when those led by Ian Foster accelerated the march. Three tries by Aaron Smith, Mark Telea and Ardie Savea from 17′ to 22′ of the initial stage were accompanied by excellent hitting from Mo’unga to signal an overwhelming lead (28-3).
As the clock ticked, the Azzurri faded into their own inconsequentiality. Smith added two additional tries to his personal tally to widen a difference that, little by little, began to become irreversible. After the conversions, the score was 42-3. Towards the end, Savea was not far behind with another ball placed in the in-goal. To make matters worse, Richie Mo’unga was 100% effective with the oval stopped to make it 49-3 at the close of the first half.
The return of the teams to the field marked Italy’s dominance due to the logical opposition retreat, which culminated in the 48th minute with Ange Capuozzo’s try. The conversion scored by Tommaso Allan made it 49-10 and it seemed that he had still left, but he made an unforgivable mistake. A block on Martin Page-Relo’s clearance ended in a try for Brodie Retallick and Mo’unga made it 56-10. The 10 of the three-time world champion reappeared once more to score 63-10 following Dalton Papali’i’s run at 56 ‘, although his perfection came to an end at 61 ‘: he failed his first conversion following Dane’s try Coles (68-10).
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The agenda of the week at the Rugby World Cup
TRAININGS:
New Zealand: Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Codie Taylor, Nepo Laulala, Brodie Retallick, Scott Barrett, Shannon Frizzel, Dalton Papali’i, Ardie Savea (C), 9. Aaron Smith, 10. Richie Mounga, 11. Mark Telea, 12. Jordie Barrett, 13. Rieko Ioane, 14. Will Jordan, 15. Beauden Barrett.
Suplentes: 16- Dane Coles, 17- Tamaiti Williams, 18- Tyrel Lomax, 19- Samuel Whitelock, 20- Same Cane, 21- Cam Roigard, 22- Damian McKenzie, 23- Anton Lienert-Brown.
Italy: 1- Danilo Fischetti, 2- Giacomo Nicotera, 3- Marco Riccioni, 4- Dino Lamb, 5- Federico Ruzza, 6- Sebastian Negri, 7- Michele Lamaro (C), 8- Lorenzo Cannone, 9- Stephen Varney, 10- Paolo Garbisi, 11- Montanna Ioane, 12- Luca Morisi, 13- Juan Ignacio Brex, 14- Ange Capuozzo, 15- Tommaso Allan.
Substitutes: 16. Hame Faiva, 17. Ivan Nemer, 18. Simone Ferrari, 19. Niccolo Cannone, 20. Manuel Zuliani, 21. Toa Halafihi, 22. Martin Page-Reloi, 23. Paolo Odogwu.
Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
Assistant Referee 1: Nic Berry (RA)
Assistant Referee 2: Christophe Ridley (RFU)
TMO: Brett Cronan (UK)
POSITIONS TABLE
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