NZ hit Italy 'with a sledgehammer' in 'glorified training run'

Italy face the task of picking themselves up off the floor after one of the biggest drubbings in their history, and maybe the widest margin between two Tier 1 sides at a Rugby World Cup ever.

Azzurri head coach Kieran Crowley, captain Michele Lamaro, flanker Sebastian Negri, full-back Tommaso Allan and second-row Federico Ruzza all struck sombre notes as they recoiled from a 96-17 thrashing at the hands of the All Blacks in Lyon.

New Zealand ran riot in what Crowley described as a 'glorified training run' for the victors.

"They scored more points than us," said Crowley. "Look, what can you say, it turned into a bit of a glorified training run for them, didn't it?

"They beat us up at the breakdown. What happened? We weren't good enough, they were too good. I thought they were pretty outstanding tonight in their carrying and their cleanout work.

"We gave up those three tries in five minutes that really put us on the back foot and it was all gone from there. We've got to pick up the pieces, which we will. It was just not a very good day at the office.

"There was nothing new around that [his prediction that New Zealand would try to bully Italy]. We were trying to do the same to them to be fair, that's the physical aspect of the game of rugby but they were just too good at it.

"We got a couple of good periods of play in that first half, got to phase four or five and we turned the ball over. They were just too good at the breakdown.

"They'll be pretty pleased with that performance I think, that was a bit of a statement for them.

"We are not worried about them, we are worried about us, we'll pick ourselves back up."

Teak-tough flanker Sebastian Negri likened the game to being hit with a sledgehammer.

“They hit us with a sledgehammer. There’s not much else to say... We’ve got to learn from it and bounce back quickly because it’s not long until we’ve got an important game against France.

“We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror and dust ourselves off quickly."

Tommaso Allen, playing out of position at fullback, described the mood inside the Italian camp: "It is never easy getting so many points against you, but the beauty of this tournament is you get another chance next week. It is important we scrap this, don’t think about it too much and just focus on France. Everybody is pretty down at the moment but we just have to forget about it and stick together.”

“It was quiet [in the changing room]. Kieran [Crowley] spoke well. He just told us to stick together and that is what we are going to do. We will go back to the hotel, have a good rest, recover tomorrow and get back on the horse on Sunday. We can’t really dwell on this. There’s not much we can take from this.”

While the aura around the men in black may have faded for some, for Italy second-row Ruzza the mystic around the All Blacks is still something that the Italians continue to struggle to deal with.

"The All Blacks has a legacy. They have their own myth and legend and they bring it to the field every time. That is not surprising. We knew what they were bringing. We simply were not good enough today.

"The result says it was the best a team has played against us. They came not to stop for 80 minutes, to make a big statement. We weren't surprised because we knew they would come like that, aggressive, but we couldn't stop them.

"It will be painful and it has to be," said Ruzzo around the need to rewatch the match next week. "We have to re-watch it and try to focus where we could be better to go on to the next match.

"Of course we had a great opponent today, but it's a moment like this a team has to try to grow, has to try to learn lessons.

"We have to bounce back, we have to focus on the next match. It's easy to be frustrated, it's easy to be down, but we have to be focused on the rugby and what we could do better technically and tactically."

"Going to sleep would be nice now."