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MARSEILLES - The All Blacks burst from the blocks and put their rugby World Cup rivals on notice with a blistering 76-14 rout of Italy here today.
An astonishing first quarter matched the heat of afternoon sun in Marseille as the New Zealanders raced to a 38-0 lead
inside 20 minutes.
The pace eventually wilted in the heat but they still ended with 11 tries to two against an Italian side who didn't come near the power and high skill level of the tournament favourites.
The individual highlight of a consummate team performance was winger Doug Howlett's hattrick of tries, which moves him level with Christian Cullen's All Blacks test record tally of 46.
Deprived of rugby for so long this year, the All Blacks players vented their frustration with a chillingly-accurate start to the game which saw captain Richie McCaw cross for the first try after a minute and for the second 5min later.
Playing into a breeze that stopped conditions becoming unbearable, New Zealand secured a bonus point for four tries after 15min against shellshocked opponents who barely touched the ball.
The points deluge ended when mistakes at last crept into the All Blacks' game midway through the first half, possibly brought on by the heat.
But the opening assault set a standard that will leave most of the other 19 teams at this tournament shuddering.
Italy are ranked ninth in the world and are competitive against most major nations but were opened up easily and made few inroads against New Zealand's ferocious defence.
The bulk of the 60,000 crammed into Stade Velodrome were there to support Italy but were left agog by the All Blacks' start and soon joined in the carnival atmosphere.
There were tryscoring doubles for flankers McCaw and Jerry Collins and winger Sitiveni Sivivatu, while first five-eighth Daniel Carter landed 17 points with the boot.
The performance was an enormous boost for the New Zealanders, who lost centre Conrad Smith and utility forward Reuben Thorne to injuries 24 hours before kickoff.
McCaw's tries came via slick offloads by teammates, the first from lock Ali Williams and then from halfback Byron Kelleher, who was a constant menace with his snipes around the fringe.
A Carter penalty was followed by the try of the match to winger Doug Howlett in the right corner. It began with a sizzling Sivivatu burst from deep down the left flank and went through several pairs of hands.
Centre Mils Muliana and Sivivatu both scored from Carter chips to complete the magical first quarter.
Sivivatu was on the end of another long range counter started by outstanding fullback Leon MacDonald before Italian winger Marko Stanojevic secured a slice of glory, intercepting a loose Kelleher pass and scampering 60m to score.
The second half opened in dubious fashion when prop Carl Hayman was sinbinned for an altercation after a scrum.
Down to 14, the All Blacks still managed to cross through lock Chris Jack via a forward passing exchange.
Howlett bagged another try inside 3min and the floodgates threatened to open when Italian prop Salvatore Perugini was shown a yellow card with 20min remaining.
However, they managed only two more through Collins while Italy had the final say with a try to second five-eighth Mirco Bergamasco.
The result maintained New Zealand's unbeaten record against Italy in nine tests, and was the fifth win in World Cup pool meetings of the teams.
The All Blacks' next game is against minnows Portugal in Lyon on Saturday.
New Zealand 76 (Doug Howlett 3, Richie McCaw 2, Sitiveni Sivivatu 2, Jerry Collins 2, Mils Muliaina, Chris Jack tries; Daniel Carter pen, 7 con, Luke McAlister 2 con) Italy 14 (Marko Stanojevic, Mirco Bergamasco tries; David Bortolussi con, Roland De Marigny con). Halftime: 43-7.
- NZPA