The All Blacks ended their European tour on a winning note in Genoa on Saturday. While the tourists won with ease, scoring eight tries to two, it was not a vintage performance and Italy, who lost their best player, Alessandro Troncon, in the opening minute to a head injury, can take some pride in their show.
All Black captain Todd Blackadder admitted Italy had improved: "If it was not a massive scoreline it is only that we can only play as well as the opposition lets us. We made a few errors but I was pretty pleased and it's a nice way to finish the tour."
Italy were hit by a hammer blow in the opening minute of the match when Troncon was injured in a ruck on his 22 metre line. He was attended to on the pitch for two minutes, but there was no way he could continue and he was replaced by Filippo Frati.
Italy coach Brad Johnstone later revealed Troncon had been unconscious on the field and was suffering from concussion.
The All Blacks scored the first try with their first fluent back move. Pita Alatini's pass found the opening, setting up winger Bruce Reihana who touched down for a try converted by Carlos Spencer.
But while the half-backs were not quite up to the task, Italy's front row of Andrea Muraro, Alessandro Moscardi and Andrea Lo Cicero - much improved under the tutelage of former All Black prop Johnstone - were excelling.
Six minutes before the break, however, the All Blacks finally imposed themselves with two tries, the first of which sparked a furious brawl. Scrumhalf Justin Marshall made the initial break down the middle and flanker Filo Tiatia reaped the benefit, touching down under a rough tackle from Giovanni Raineri.
But it was Italy who took a lap of honour after a gutsy performance for a team which will only further be boosted by the return of outhalf Diego Dominguez for the Six Nations Tournament.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)