By Trevor Stynes, Reuters
Mark Tele'a' scored the All Blacks' third try 30 minutes into the second half. Photo: photosport
New Zealand laboured to a 29-11 win over a brave, battling Italy on Saturday as the All Blacks wrapped up their autumn series with a less than impressive victory.
The visitors had been expected to take out their disappointment from the loss to France last weekend on an Italian side which had struggled in their two recent games, losing heavily to Argentina and getting a comeback win over Georgia.
Instead, it was Italy who looked the better side at the start, taking a 6-3 lead early on before New Zealand finally found two tries from Cam Roigard and Will Jordan, both converted by Beauden Barrett, to go in 17-6 up at the break.
Italy again came out stronger, camping out on the All Blacks' line but failing to make it count, and the second half was 30 minutes old before Mark Tele'a's try increased the visitors' lead, with Tommaso Menoncello then going over for Italy before a late Barrett try.
Italy had never beaten New Zealand in their previous 16 meetings, and Saturday's showing was a marked improvement on their 96-17 defeat at last year's World Cup, as they proved more than a match for a strong and experienced All Blacks side for long periods.
The opening 10 minutes saw most of the play in New Zealand's half. Italy opened the scoring with a Paolo Garbisi penalty, and he put them back in front after Barrett knocked over his penalty.
New Zealand were down to 14 men after 20 minutes after a yellow card for captain Scott Barrett, but they still managed to score the opening try with Roigard selling a dummy and slipping a tackle before diving over.
Beauden Barrett runs in to score the fourth try against Italy. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Will Jordan easily evaded Ange Capuozzo's tackle to score their second try just before the break. Italy came back from the same 17-6 deficit they saw against Georgia last weekend, and came out for the second half against the All Blacks full of belief.
New Zealand's Anton Lienert-Brown was sent to the sin bin as the All Blacks suffered under Italian pressure, giving away three penalties in quick succession, with Italy opting to kick for touch each time - but they could not find a way through.
Sam Cane thanks the fans as he walks off the pitch to a standing ovation to mark his final All Blacks test match appearance. Photo: Joe Toth/ActionPress
Sam Cane left the pitch to a standing ovation, with the Italian crowd honouring the former All Blacks captain as he made his last New Zealand appearance before he heads to Japan to play club rugby.
Halfback TJ Perenara is also off to Japan, and before kickoff he lead the haka for the final time before coming off the bench in the second half for his final All Blacks game.
TJ Perenara leads the All Blacks haka in his final test, against Italy in Turin. Photo: Joe Toth/ActionPress
New Zealand finally got more points on the board when they shipped the ball out wide from a scrum and Tele'a had plenty of space to go over in the corner, with Barrett converting.
The biggest cheer of the night at the first ever rugby match at the Juventus stadium came four minutes from the end, when Menoncello raced away after collecting a Marco Zanon offload to earn Italy a try, with Garbisi missing the conversion.
New Zealand had time for one more try and it was a poor clearance kick from Capuozzo which allowed Barrett in, although he failed to land the conversion on a night when the All Blacks, while never in real danger of losing, struggled to put Italy away.
- Reuters
