New Zealand produced a disjointed display as they sealed a 29-11 Autumn Nations Series victory over a much-improved Italy at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.

Points from Cam Roigard, Will Jordan, Mark Tele’a and Beauden Barrett were augmented by nine points from the tee from the latter as the All Blacks claimed a hard-fought victory.

Paolo Garbisi kicked six points while Tommaso Menoncello scored Italy and they will be boosted by their performance, especially after a disappointing recent term.

There was plenty of encouragement from Italy’s first half which they caused New Zealand several headaches and fronted admirably in an improved performance.

The pressure they put on the All Blacks led to mistakes from the visitors. However, one aspect that New Zealand had success with was the scrum, which won them a couple of penalties.

However, it was Italy who opened the scoring after Ardie Savea cynically dived over a ruck, allowing Garbisi to successfully push his side into a 3-0 lead.

New Zealand responded through Barrett 15 minutes after Menoncello had extended at a ruck and taking the three points was a sign the All Blacks were rattled.

They didn’t help themselves when Patrick Tuipulotu and others were penalized for obstruction as Rieko Ioane collected the resulting restart, with Garbisi duly at fault.

At 6-3 up and with Scott Barrett yellow carded for a crocodile after 20 minutes, things looked particularly bright for the fiery Azzurri and their fans.

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However, a much-needed opportunistic cross from Roigard silenced the Allianz Stadium crowd as he dotted around the edge of a ruck to make it 10-6.

Things would get even better for the All Blacks at half time when Jordan sent through a hole after a prolonged period of pressure for a key try that moves him ahead of the great Jonah Lomu in New Zealand trial list.

The first point after the break was always going to be crucial and it looked for money that the Italians would get it after dominating both possession and territory.

Unfortunately for the Azzurri – even with Anton Lienert-Brown sent to the sin-bin for repeated fouls – they just couldn’t break down the black wall.

The score remained locked at 16-7 as the final 10 minutes approached but it was a period not without key moments, including Sam Cane bowing out to warm applause. It was also the introduction of another outgoing New Zealand legend as scrum-half TJ Perenara emerged from the bench for his final run-out in the black jersey.

However, the deadlock was finally broken on 71 minutes when sloppy backline passing eventually found Tele’a, with Beauden Barrett adding the tough extras.

It seemed fitting that Italy would have the final say in the game as Menoncello got off the mark from Marco Zanon for a well-deserved consolation point.

But the Azzurri risked their arm too much in the final play on their own line and Beauden Barrett capitalised, galloping over to add gloss to the away victory.

The law

Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (c), 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Martin Page-Relo, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Dino Lamb, 4 Federico Ruzza, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Compensations: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Mirco Spagnolo 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Leonardo Marin 23 Marco Zanon

New Zealand: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Mark Tele’a, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Wallace Sititi, 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Scott Barrett (c), 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Compensations: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Tupou Vaa’i, 20 Peter Lakai, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 David Havili, 23 Damian McKenzie

Reference: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Ludovic Cayre (France)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)

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