Unlike the matches easily won against the United States (104-14) and Wales (54-16), it was not until the 27th minute to see the New Zealanders score a first try, by the scrum half Finlay Christie, who came into play shortly before to replace Brad Weber, came out injured.
Until then, the start had been Italian, for the debut on the Azzurro bench of the former New Zealand international Kieran Crowley: aggressiveness in defense and accuracy in the passing game, even allowing the Azzurri to come and tickle the neo ogres -Zeeland in their 22 meters, with two hits obtained within five meters.
New Zealand, with a largely overhauled squad before the final big chunk of their tour against Ireland and then France, even made some unusual technical faults.
But after the first try, she finally increased the pace and took off before the break thanks to two tries in less than ten minutes from her hooker Dane Coles (30th, 38th), for her 19th and 20th tries in 79 selections.
New Zealand hooker Dane Coles scores a try against Italy in their fall tour test match on November 6, 2021 at the Olympic Stadium in Rome Filippo MONTEFORTE AFP
Italy again tried to resist and scored a few points thanks to the foot of its opener Paolo Garbisi on penalties.
But she definitely took the water after the hour of play, conceding four tries in the last twenty minutes, for a heavy final score that does not pay tribute to her good fighting spirit for this Nazionale under construction around her new captain, Michele Lamaro, 23, and his young hinge made up of Paolo Garbisi (21) and Stephen Varney (20).
New Zealand scrum-half Finlay Christie scores a try despite the tackle of two Italian players, during their test match of the autumn tour, on November 6, 2021 at the Olympic Stadium in Rome Filippo MONTEFORTE AFP
This one-sided end to the match allows the All Blacks to save appearances before heading for Ireland where they will however have to get started faster to avoid a bad surprise.
© 2021 AFP