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All Blacks Player Ratings v Italy

Jordie Barrett (L) and Ardie Savea (R) of the All Blacks celebrate following the International Rugby match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Italy. Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images

The All Blacks have capped their 2018 season with an emphatic 10-try 66-3 victory over the Azzurri in Rome. Here’s how they rated individually:

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1. Ofa Tuungafasi – 6.5
A little patchy with ball in hand but did some fine work in the scrum, forcing his opposite Simone Ferrari to concede a penalty and applying pressure every time the sides packed down.

2. Dane Coles – 8.5
Dane Coles was back to his attacking best against Italy. Made an immediate impact by sidestepping Italian wing Luca Sperandio and finding a pair of looping teammates to set up the opening try. Showed other impressive flashes as a carrier and was close to impeccable at lineout time.

3. Nepo Laulala – 6
Made eight tackles, second-most in the All Blacks pack. Helped prop up the scrum and was limited with ball in hand.

4. Patrick Tuipulotu – 7.5
Got through plenty of work in a busy 80-minute shift. Hands let him down a couple of times but otherwise an incredibly reliable metre maker. Finished with 53 metres, five defenders beaten and a try assist but also conceded three turnovers.

5. Scott Barrett – 6.5
A relatively quiet shift from a player that has made a big impact of late. Made six tackles and was handy in the lineout. Didn’t get much ball and was penalised early to surrender Italy’s sole three points.

6. Vaea Fifita – 9
Arguably the All Blacks’ most impactful forward. Devastating with ball in hand, athletic freak Fifita turned five carries into 60 metres, beating three defenders and making a line break. He also finished as the All Blacks’ top tackler, making 11 without a miss. An impressive performance and nice finish to the year for a player that has had a tough season.

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7. Ardie Savea – 7
A typical pest at the breakdown. Counter rucking put pressure on the Italians and he managed to eventually snaffle a turnover. Less impact on attack in a short 47-minute shift.

8. Kieran Read – 8
Finished with eight tackles, missing on two occasions. Excellent in the lineout. Showed great skill and hands in lead up to two tries, notched one try assist to Ngani Laumape and put Patrick Tuipulotu through a hole to set up one of Damian McKenzie’s tries. Lowlight was getting manhandled by Italian flanker Jake Polledri.

9. TJ Perenara – 8
Great support running to pick up a try, had another taken away after a forward pass. Delivered lightning quick service all night and made his tackles.

10. Beauden Barrett – 9
Beauden Barrett was excellent in pulling the strings for the All Blacks against Italy. Scored a try after picking off an overthrown lineout near halfway and taking it to the house. Set up two more with a perfectly weighted grubber for Damian McKenzie and a cross-field kick for brother Jordie. Loses marks for a few errant passes. Accurate off the tee.

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11. Waisake Naholo – 7
Didn’t see much ball come his way but made the most of his opportunities and went looking for work. Was largely untested defensively.

12. Ngani Laumape – 7.5
An impressive all-around performance from the power-packed midfielder. Scored a try after great hands from Kieran Read and put in a grubber to set up McKenzie’s third.

13. Anton Lienert Brown – 8
Reliable with ball in hand, often able to straighten play and make metres. Finished with 83 run metres and a clean break, and kept the ball alive constantly with a game-high five offloads. Made all five of his tackle attempts.

14. Jordie Barrett – 9
Might be in for a few more shifts on the wing after bagging four tries. Showed off an array of skills in doing so. Most impressive may have been claiming his brother’s cross-field kick on the stroke of halftime. Finished with a game-high 138 run metres – Italy notchd 161 as a team -with six defenders beaten and three line breaks. Also set up and try and offloaded three times.

15. Damian McKenzie – 9
McKenzie flourished and helped open up the game from fullback. Outrun only by Barrett with 136 metres, McKenzie scored three tries and made two line breaks with five defenders beaten. Simply made things happen for the All Blacks. A good note to end his campaign.

Key Reserves:
Brodie Retallick wasted no time in breaking the line after replacing Scott Barrett. Young loose forward Dalton Papalii came on and made an impact defensively, making five tackles and winning two turnovers.

Richie Mo’unga threatened the Italian line and showed flashes of some fine tactical kicking as well as setting up a try.

The highlight from the bench came from hooker Nathan Harris, who made a line break before grubbering ahead to Jordie Barrett who claimed his fourth try of the evening.

In other news:

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J
JW 6 hours ago
Western Force and ACT Brumbies looking for signs of progress in Super Rugby Pacific

Yeah, that’s what I was referring to too. You know in that situation the kind of things that form your picture of NRL or A league etc disappear in the case of kiwi rugby supporters, where they believe they have that advantage over aus rugby.


I have to put my hand up here. While I can see the reasoning behind a much better Reds, and even though they were good enough to win against the top 3 last year, I still don’t see them climbing (places) like you’d expect (all fair and reasonable points aside I mean).


But yes, I asked that because I do find aussie rugby supporters unique in this example of pragmatism. Look, I still think the circumstances dictate that it is why there isn’t more support for rugby in aus (they would need to win more like anything), but it is a) the kind of outlook that made my try to think of the SR standings in a way unassociated to nationality, and b) something that should be captured somehow and adopted by everyone.


Because I have no doubt SR died because of nationalism. Here, like with your above example, all there were for years were complaints of how better kiwi teams weren’t getting a deserved finals ranking. Now while the whole topic is complicated to get right, to have it get to the point where one side almost wants to kill it off and drive the otherside away is just not healthy.


I honestly think there are really easy things to do that could resolve the problem (if aus rugby culture couldn’t be copied/spread lol) like having even just a few players in each others teams. SR’s getting by right now because aussies population is so big there are still enough core fans that can have your outlook (though that survey said nearly a third also support another country?), but everything changes, and if the shoe is on the other foot at some time in the future I’d imagine that problem would “remain“ just long enough that NZ wouldn’t be able to “get by”.


There are just so many sports like SR that don’t have a parity system and end up with this sort of predictability that must be hard to ignore and get excited about. That its not down to something simple like being the richest is irrelevant. Visiting Japan it was really interesting to see how they had become supporters of these particular top sides. What do Canadians think about the Stanley Cup going to teams out of Law Vegas and Florida?

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