New Zealand fire World Cup warning to Ireland
New Zealand’s brutal 14-try demolition of Italy serves as a World Cup warning to Ireland.
NEW ZEALAND 96–17 ITALY: It’s a dark night for Italy as Men in Black rip apart their flimsy defense in an impressive comeback.
Sam Whitelock had a memorable evening in New Zealand as they let loose to celebrate him earning the title of all-time All Black with the most appearances.
Italy were humiliated by a team that fired out a warning to likely quarterfinal opponents Ireland in the 149th Test, which was a demolition job from start to finish for the Kiwi lock.
By the time Whitelock came on to replace Richie McCaw and tie the World Cup appearance record, New Zealand had seven goals after Aaron Smith’s hat-trick in the first half.
Only coach Kieran Crowley’s selection of game to assert that “everyone has caught up” with the All Blacks came close to matching the timing of Italy’s absence.
He was trying to be relative to how dominant they used to be, but it came off as poking the bear, and as a Kiwi himself, he really ought to have known better.
Crowley said afterward, “It turned into a glorified training run for them, didn’t it.
“I think that performance will have them quite pleased. It kind of made a statement.
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Before scrum-half Smith scored his 16-minute three-pointer, Will Jordan opened the 14-try rout with a try that was a strong candidate for try of the tournament.
Even though Italy’s defense was woefully lacking, few, if any, sides would have been willing to put up with the men in black in this situation.
Coach Ian Foster of New Zealand claimed, “I think we took away their hope in the first 20.”.
“Perhaps they then believed they had another weapon to use against France the following week.
“We definitely performed better than the competition. We weren’t interested in giving Italy a chance.
We’re very happy with it.
This indicates that we have taken charge of our own fate, which is where we wanted to be.
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It is possible to dispel any concerns caused by their opening-night loss to France and their Twickenham defeat by South Africa last month.
Ireland has definitely been warned.
Jordan, Smith, Telea, Savea, Papali’i, Coles, McKenzie, and Lienert-Brown are among the New Zealanders who have scored tries.
Negative: Mo’unga 9, McKenzie 4.
Capuozzo and Ioane are attempts from Italy. Allan and Garbisi are negative.
Allen wrote this.
