FRANCE: Favourites New Zealand beat Italy in the sunny city of Marseille in rugby world cup

The All Blacks crush the Italians 76-14 in their Rugby World Cup match in Marseille. World Cup favourites New Zealand completed a 76-14 destruction of an awe-struck Italy side in their Pool C opener in Marseille on Saturday (September 8). Just as they did when they won their only previous World Cup 20 years ago, the All Blacks began their campaign by sending out a warning to their rivals with a classy display against the Italians. Fans gathered in Marseille's bars and pubs were all convinced by the All Blacks' performance. "Basically, New Zealand was just too strong in the end. They have a very good side. They are so strong around the park. Every position was better than the Italian players. Their scrum was a lot stronger, the line up was a lot stronger plus when the ball went out wide to the backs, the Italian backs just had no defence to compete," said Welsh fan Rob Prothiroe. "It's not a surprise that we won again. I expected us to win with quite a big lead but it's not a good thing that Italy got three tries. If we give away three tries to Italy, if we give this away to Australia or South Africa it's not a good thing, we may lose," said Aaron Herba, from New Zealand. Graham Henry's side racked up 38 points in the first 19 minutes against an Italian side who were a shadow of the team who gave Ireland a scare last month and beat Wales and Scotland in their best-ever display in this year's Six Nations. The All Blacks scored 11 tries, including a hat-trick from winger Doug Howlett and two apiece from Richie McCaw, Jerry Collins and Sitiveni Sivivatu.

ITN Source | September 9, 2007

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