By Ben Jaycock, Assistant Editor
New Zealand… 71pts
Tries: Roigard 2, 7, McKenzie 20, 39, Fainga’anuku 25, Lienert-Brown 35, de Groot 49, Papali’i 54, Havili 58, Clarke 67, Ioane 77
Conversions: McKenzie 3, 20, 36, 40, 55, 59, 69, 78
Namibia…………… 3pts
Penalties: Swanepoel 11
Damian McKenzie scored 24 points as New Zealand beat Namibia in a ten-try rout.
The Chiefs fly-half crossed for two tries and kicked seven penalties as his side ran riot against a Namibia side that lost their 24th consecutive World Cup game.
New Zealand second row Sam Whitelock won his 148th cap and tied Richie McCaw’s all-time All Blacks appearance record.
Head coach Ian Foster said: “We tried to establish ourselves up front and we got that dominance pretty early which was key to the game.
“It allowed us to pick and choose how we played after that, but obviously we are delighted with the result and it is a step forward.”
On the de Groot red card, Foster said: “We will have a look at it, there was a lot of shoulder on shoulder in that contact, but we will compare it to something that happened yesterday and see what comes from it.”
McKenzie put in a lovely kick pass to Leicester Fainga’anuku, who offloaded the ball to Cam Roigard and the Hurricanes scrum-half ran in close to the posts.
After McKenzie was denied a try by the TMO for a knock on, Roigard scored his second as he dummied past his opposite number Damian Stevens from close range.
Namibia hit back with a Tiaan Swanepoel penalty and the All Blacks again had a try ruled out as Samisoni Taukei’aho’s try from a driving maul was ruled out for obstruction.
Le Roux Malan was left on the floor clutching his knee and a lengthy stoppage occurred before the Namibia centre was stretchered off receiving a standing ovation from the capacity crowd.
Moments later, McKenzie tapped and went off a penalty and sped through the caught out Namibia defence to increase their lead.
The four-try bonus point was sealed on 25 minutes through Fainga’anuku’s powerful crossing.
Rain started pouring down inside the Stade Ernest-Wallon and Anton Lienert-Brown understood the conditions and put the ball on his toe before hacking it to the try line.
Following another Namibia mistake, Roigard broke away from the scrum before switching with McKenzie, who ran a line and slid over.
After half time Ardie Savea drew in the last defender and replacement Ethan de Groot couldn’t be stopped from just two metres out.
The All Blacks were running riot and flanker Dalton Papali’i and centre David Havili joined the try scoring.
Namibia went closest to scoring when a well-executed driving maul looked set for the try line but the African side knocked on just two metres out.
While at the other end, Caleb Clarke was the next cab of the rank to score.
De Groot was yellow carded for a high tackle and considering the Highlanders prop failed to wrap, referee Luke Pearce decided to go to the bunker.
The decision was upgraded to red but that didn’t stop the try scoring continuing as substitute Rieko Ioane sped through a tired Namibian defence to round off the scoring.
For exclusive stories and all the detailed rugby news you need, subscribe to The Rugby Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day.
