Rugby: Even the ref applauds performance

By Wynne Gray

HUDDERSFIELD - The digital scoreboard at McAlpine Stadium could not cope for a minute, and then ticked over to the All Blacks' three-figure World Cup matchwinning score against Italy yesterday while exhausted, red-faced referee Jim Fleming even applauded the men in black all the way off the field.

It was that sort of extraordinary day in Huddersfield despite a mediocre Italian side as the All Blacks completed their pool play with a 101-3 victory before leaving for four days R and R in Cannes as the entree to their Murrayfield main course quarter-final next weekend.

In a commanding display, fullback Jeff Wilson broke John Kirwan's record of 35 test tries for the All Blacks when he nailed a hat-trick to push his tally out to 37, and Jonah Lomu scored twice to push past Rory Underwood as the leading World Cup tryscorer with 12.

And Tony Brown, way out on the sideline after Glen Osborne's final (but dubious) try, hit the conversion dead straight to give him a personal haul of 36 points and raise the century for just the second time in the tournament's history, following the All Blacks' 145-17 win against Japan four years ago.

It was a day bathed in black as hordes of All Black supporters hit the northern industrial town and dominated the crowd of 22,032, who watched with massive approval as the All Blacks piled on 14 tries to obliterate a side who are soon to complete the new Six Nations competition.

Just four months ago, the Springboks dealt to Italy 101-0 at Durban and there was a great symmetry between that and the All Black massacre yesterday. As coach Massimo Mascioletti accepted, they were results which would demand a huge overhaul of Italian rugby.

One could only guess what the top All Black side would have done, or whether they would have been much better than the 11 players who did not played against England.

Coach John Hart had not challenged his revamped side to hit any points target, but he demanded consistency, pressure on his test XV and high-quality rugby standards.

All those requirements were answered by the 20 players who made it on to the park, with another bonus being the final quarter gallop for tighthead prop Kees Meeuws to prove his fitness after his calf injury.

Halfback Rhys Duggan and flanker Scott Robertson came off the bench for a spell in what was likely be their only chances of World Cup play so all 29 left in the squad after Carlos Spencer's unfortunate injury have now had some action.

There were a few wobbly opening minutes, when Brown missed a couple of touches and others appeared to have some nerves. But they soon settled and after a Brown penalty it was Wilson who started the try-scoring deluge.

By halftime the All Blacks had pushed out to a 51-3 lead with six tries, all converted by Brown, who also nudged over three penalties and scored to give him an individual 26 points at the break.

While the players caught their breath at the break, journalists dived for the rugby almanacs to check on all sorts of record marks. Brown was in with a real chance of breaking Simon Culhane's All Black high of 45 points in a test and the world-best 50 points Hong Kong's Ashley Billington scored in a qualifying test before the 1995 World Cup.

In the end the marks stood, but the All Blacks forged ahead relentlessly, adding another eight tries, Brown getting to 11 kicks in succession before missing two conversions and then one more late in the match.

But the curly-haired five-eighths nailed the all-important last kick and the scoreboard reacted with digital disbelief for some seconds before sorting out the century.

"I felt some pressure because in the back of my mind I knew we would get three figures if I put it over," Brown said, "and the sideline was a bit shorter than I am used to, so my run-up was shorter, but fortunately I struck it well and it went pretty true."

Any blemishes were few. Occasionally the midfield lost their alignment and there were some troubles for halfback Byron Kelleher as Italy infringed a great deal round the fringes.

But there was the luxury of captain Taine Randell being subbed and Jonah Lomu, after an imperious 45m run to set the World Cup try-scoring mark, going into No 8 for a spell.

He had been tried there in one first-half scrum and smashed his way over for a try, his body position, power and weight too much for at least three defenders.

Whether anyone made any advance on pushing for a test start would be debatable. However the benefits for the whole squad were many, while other sides like England, still trying to qualify, have had to make far fewer changes to ensure they make the next round.