By MARC HINTON in Milan - Stuff.co.nz
Last updated 05:12 15/11/2009
The occasion was delicious, the rugby atrocious as the All Blacks – very much playing second fiddle to their round-ball cousins this weekend – completed another less than satisfying test victory over Italy today at the San Siro.
The 80,000 fans who packed this wonderful stadium deserved a spectacle, but unfortunately Graham Henry's second-string All Blacks couldn't deliver one as they muddled their way to a 20-6 victory. It was, in many ways, the horror show of Christchurch revisited as the New Zealanders won the second half just 6-3, and could manage just one try in 80 minutes of rugby.
What is it about the Azzurri that seems to upset the rhythm of these All Blacks? There was a day when the New Zealanders only had to see the blue jersey of Italy and 70 points were raised on the scoreboard. This year it's been like wading through mud playing them.
Still, given that the All Blacks made 12 changes and a positional switch to their top lineup, and that most of these boys hadn't played in close to a month, maybe the disjointed performance should not have surprised.
But the performance would certainly have disappointed the coaches who put the acid on some of these fringe All Blacks to deliver. Collectively they patently failed to meet that challenge.
You have to say that if these are the guys supposedly pushing the top lineup, then there's not a heck of a lot of pressure on the big boys. It's hard to think of an All Blacks who advanced his cause on the basis of this.
The New Zealand scrum was monstered – and that's probably being kind to the backtracking black eight – and their work at the breakdown and in clearing what little ball they could get their hands on was sloppy.
Halfback Andy Ellis had a nightmare dealing with an arriving troupe of Italians about the same time as he received ball most of the game. Mike Delany had an inauspicious debut, and it was not a day for the outside backs to shine with such limited possession.
It was fitting really that the All Blacks ended the match pinned on their own line with the Azzurri camped in their red zone as they attacked from a series of scrums. Prop Neemia Tialata had been sinbinned for one to many infringements at the set piece and all you could say on the positive side was that the black defence held out under all kinds of pressure.
Still, maybe it was right that the Azzurri made the All Blacks look like plodders. The world's turned on its head, after all.
The All Whites climb their football Everest at a rugby stadium in Wellington a world away, and here are the All Blacks carving their own slice of rugby history at one of the world's great football stadiums in Milan.
It was the biggest crowd, by nearly double, to ever have watched a rugby match in this country and it was, we were told, a record attendance for the San Siro which had sold out every one of its 80,000-plus seats long ago.
The All Blacks led 14-3 at the end of a fairly undistinguished first half that featured just one try and little in the way of free-flowing, constructive rugby.
The Italians, well organised and committed on defence, didn't give much away but there was a distinct second-rate look about the second-string All Blacks through the first 40. They struggled for fluency off the set phases – especially at scrum where Wyatt Crockett had his moments – and looked like a combination that had never played together before.
Their best moment came around the 26-minute mark, soon after Sitiveni Sivivatu, Luke McAlister and Corey Flynn had featured in a promising sort of breakout from deep.
Off a handily placed scrum the All Blacks probed right, then won quick phase ball off a McAlister dab and good hands from Sivivatu saw Flynn over in the left corner for just his second test try to mark his first start at this level since 2003.
But that was pretty much that for the half. McAlister added a late penalty to go with his two earlier three-pointers, and the All Blacks went into the sheds with a buffer, but no sort of comfort zone. Like Christchurch in June, some stern words surely awaited them from the coaching staff.
The Italians were committed and aggressive on defence, but they continue to show such a lack of adventure when they do secure ball that you wonder about their mindset. They must surely know to ever win these big tests they are going to have to score more than a handful of points.
For these guys, though, it's clearly about respectability against a foe like the All Blacks, and their second-half effort, when they limited the New Zealanders to one or two half-chances, and precious little else, certainly did that.
No 8 Sergio Parisse led the Italians magnificently and the big front row won their battle hands down. Their defence was excellent too as the home side revelled in the arm-wrestle nature of this contest.
No All Blacks should be happy with their efforts. Ben Smith shook off a handling error with his first touch to come through a tough debut well and Sivivatu and McAlister showed glimpses of their class.
But it was a real struggle for the All Blacks up front, and as such their game never got out of second gear. It's one of those matches, from a New Zealand perspective, best filed in the ''never-to-be-watched-again'' basket.
Not so for the hosts. It was a day of celebration for Italian rugby as it drew the biggest attendance ever to a rugby match. And it ended with the applause very much ringing for a gallant, if limited, Azzurri side.
Italy 6 (Craig Gower 2 pens), New Zealand 20 (Corey Flynn try; Luke McAlister 5 pens). Ht: 3-14.
