The All Blacks have sent a message to the rest of the World Cup with a 96-17 win over Italy in Lyon
The Kiwis were ruthless in their 14-try performance, dominating an Italian side that had its eyes on a shock upset heading into the game.
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The Italians never stood a chance as the New Zealanders came out with a point to prove.
Scrumhalf Aaron Smith had a hat-trick inside the first 30 minutes, joined in kind by a double from captain Ardie Savea.
It continued until the final whistle as the All Blacks celebrated Sam Whitelock breaking the all-time caps record of 149 held by Richie McCaw, who was in attendance to witness the emphatic victory.
The All Blacks were on fire from the opening whistle and delivered one of the best opening 40 minutes in Test Rugby of 2023.
They shut down any potential upset almost instantly when Beauden Barrett’s cross-field kick hit Will Jordan on the chest in the fourth minute, finishing spectacularly in the corner.
From here, it was then the Smith and Savea Show as the duo tormented the Italians in a world-class display of Rugby.
Smith crossed for a hat-trick inside 35 minutes, starting in unconventional fashion at the back of the maul.
He then sliced through the defence in the 28th minute before completing the rapid hat-trick after backing up a Jordie Barrett break.
As for the All Blacks captain, he brutalised the Italy defence with his trademark barnstorming style.
He almost scored from the kickoff after Smith’s opener, with winger Mark Telea finishing off the break in the corner.
The number eight then had a try of his own when he went himself from the five metre maul and crossed nearly untouched.
By the time Savea crossed for his second on the stroke of half-time, the scoreline was 49-3 as a shellshocked Italy went into the sheds struggling for answers.
Even when things went wrong for the All Blacks, they always had an answer.
Ange Capuozzo tried to rally a comeback with Italy’s opening try of the game, only for Sam Whitelock to score two minutes later when Italy’s clearing kick was charged down.
Replacement half Cam Roigard was denied a try to continue his fairytale World Cup, however, they could do little to stop Dalton Papalii four minutes later.
The relentless barrage didn’t stop when Ian Foster made substitutes, with Roigard, Dane Coles and Damian McKenzie crossing the line.
The game was best summed up in the 70th minute when Jordan broke away from the Italy defence and chipped ahead, only for the bounce of the ball to go over the chasing Italian and into Savea’s arms, who offloaded for Jordan to score his second.
The late flourish of tries had the All Blacks suddenly looking at the century, denied by former Rebels winger Monty Ioane, scoring in the corner to claim any ‘last try wins’ bragging rights.
"Really satisfied, really good performance," All Blacks coach Ian Foster said.
"It felt a little bit strange having the gap after the Namibia game. We did a lot of hard work and this was the game we prepared well for. World Cups are full of games where there's a bit of an edge to them and we certainly had an edge to that performance."
ALL BLACKS 96
TRIES: Jordan 2, Smith 3, Telea, Savea 2, Retallick, Papalii, Coles 2, McKenzie, Roigard
CONS: Mo'unga 9/10, McKenzie 4/4
ITALY 17
TRIES: Capuozzo, Ioane
CONS: Allan 1/1, Varney 1/1
PENS: Allan 1/1
