New Zealand vs Italy LIVE: Rugby World Cup result and reaction as ruthless All Blacks score 14 tries in rout

Ian Foster and Kieran Crowley would have been familiar foes while playing domestically for Waikato and Taranaki in the late 1980s and early 90s, and the pair share a perspective on that Italian losing run.

“History means nothing,” All Blacks coach Foster said on Wednesday, echoing the opinion of his opposite number. “History is yesterday’s newspaper, isn’t it, not tomorrow’s.”

Foster did push back on Crowley labelling his side as “bullies”, though.

““That’s rugby, everyone is trying to do that. They’ll be trying to do that to us. It’s a physical game. It’s not a lack of respect from anyone. Both teams, there’s a lot at stake. This was always going to be a game we knew we had to get really excited about and play well in.

“The good thing is that we are playing a team that is confident, so there is no surprises. They’ve earned that. The last two years, we’ve seen a lot of growth in their game. I made the point after the Six Nations, I thought they were one of the highlights of the Six Nations, the way they played and the competitiveness of all their games.”

It’s a pretty special evening for Kieran Crowley, too, with the veteran coach taking charge of Italy against a nation he represented at two World Cups. Crowley will leave his role at the end of the tournament to take up a job in Japan, with Gonzalo Quesada offering an exciting new direction for this developing Azzurri side, but the 62-year-old has done fine work both with the Italian national team and Benneton in Treviso before stepping up to the main job.

“This is a new team,” Crowley said of his side, urging them to ignore Italy’s winless record against the All Blacks. “This team has never played New Zealand and the New Zealand team named has never played Italy. Yes, there is stats, there is history but history is always there to be broken.

“We are under no illusions as to what is coming. They are going to come at us and they are going to be aggressive and they are going to try to intimidate us. They’ll try to bully us. We have to embrace that challenge.

“This group of 33 players have really matured over the last 18 months. We’ve got a lot more confidence in our ability, they back themselves, they have some courage. We have no fear. If that is going to be good enough, we will have to wait and see because it is going to be one hell of a battle. We are really looking forward to it.

“They are in a situation, same as us, they need to win to move on. So, they are going to try and impart themselves physically on us and really intimidate us, bully us. They’ll come direct and they’ll come hard. But it all starts up front. It starts with the low numbers and if the low numbers can get you on top it makes it easier for the others.”

It will be Scott Barrett alongside Brodie Retallick tonight in the All Blacks engine room, but no locking pair has played more in partnership than Retallick and Sam Whitelock, leaving him pretty well placed to comment on the quality of his second row chum.

““Obviously, it’s his 149th game (if he comes off the bench against Italy) and to do that from a physical and a mental side, to be able to turn up each week, prepare, play the way that he does is a real testament,” Retallick said of Whitelock yesterday.

“The biggest impact he has had is he was the number one lock and had been established in the All Blacks before I was. It was the competition to keep getting better and reach his level. He has done that for so long, which is also a massive achievement.

“Even this week, even though he was named on the bench, he was still pushing everyone around the field and trying to out-do everyone.

“Playing a lot of test matches with him has been special but the competitiveness he has throughout the training week, week-in week-out, has been the biggest benefit.”

Italy coach Kieran Crowley, seeking more height in his second row to combat New Zealand’s lineout threat, brings in Dino Lamb in place of Niccolo Cannone at lock in an forward pack otherwise unchanged from the win over Uruguay. Stephen Varney is chosen at scrum-half while the backline is retooled elsewhere - playmakers Paolo Garbisi and Tommaso Allan retain their places but occupy new roles at ten and 15 respectively.

Lorenzo Pani drops out of the 23 entirely as Luca Morisi returns at inside centre. Crowley opts for a six forwards to two backs bench split.

Italy XV: Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera, Marco Riccioni; Dino Lamb, Federico Ruzza; Sebastian Negri, Michele Lamaro (captain), Lorenzo Cannone; Stephen Varney, Paolo Garbisi; Monty Ioane, Luca Morisi, Juan Ignacio Brex, Ange Capuozzo; Tommaso Allan.

Replacements: Hame Faiva, Ivan Nemer, Simone Ferrari, Niccolo Cannone, Manuel Zuliani, Toa Halafihi; Martin Page-Relo, Paolo Odogwu.

Ian Foster is able to call upon the fit-again Shannon Frizell and Jordie Barrett as he reverts to his first-choice New Zealand side. Sam Whitelock is set to become the most capped All Black of all time but must be content with a place on the bench with Brodie Retallick and Scott Barrett paired in the second row.

Regular skipper Sam Cane is also only a replacement as he continues to work his way back from injury, with Dalton Papali’i and captain Ardie Savea joining Frizell in the back row. Tyrel Lomax is also in line for a comeback after suffering a gash to the leg during the warm-up defeat to South Africa in August.

New Zealand XV: Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Codie Taylor, Nepo Laulala; Brodie Retallick, Scott Barrett; Shannon Frizell, Dalton Papali’i, Ardie Savea (captain); Aaron Smith, Richie Mo’unga; Mark Telea, Jordie Barrett, Rieko Ioane, Will Jordan; Beauden Barrett.

Replacements: Dane Coles, Tamaiti Williams, Tyrel Lomax, Sam Whitelock, Sam Cane; Cam Roigard, Damian McKenzie, Anton Lienert-Brown.

Little more than an hour, now, until we get going in Lyon. Let’s take a closer look at the two teams...

Italy, of course, face France in their final pool game next week, with the hosts all but certain to be without Antoine Dupont as the scrum half continues his recovery from surgery on his fractured cheekbone. The prognosis is looking good for Dupont, though, with the latest word from the French camp encouraging about his potential participation in the quarter-finals.

“He’s doing as well as possible,” France’s head of medical Bruno Boussagole has said today. “We’re six days on from his operation and the swelling has gone down. He’s having some pain that’s linked to the head injury, but which has nothing to do with the post-op. He’s doing very well. He’s in high spirits. He’s quite confident.

“The plan for him is a visit to the surgeon, which is going to happen fairly quickly. It’s a post-surgery visit to assess his progress and to give the first instructions. Depending on the surgeon’s instructions, we’ll wait for him to come back, which we hope will be scheduled fairly quickly, with some guidelines.

“Firstly, to assist him in relation to this shock, because when you have a shock like that you inevitably have secondary lesions, so we’re going to have to do specific work on his jaw joint; there’s specific work to be done in terms of rehabilitation.

“There’s also the question of concussion. There will be a neuro check-up in a week’s time, as soon as he arrives, to assess his condition so that he can gradually resume physical activity. So for the moment the news is reassuring, we’re doing our best to support him and we hope he’ll be back fairly soon.”

I was in Nice a week and a half ago to watch Italy overcome Uruguay, simplifying things after a shaky, squabbly start to make it two bonus point wins from two. Afterwards, I collared Tommaso Allan for a chat, and found the Italy playmaker in a confident mood.

Back to tonight’s proceedings, and another bit of history for record-breaker Sam Whitelock, set to become the All Blacks’ most capped player when he comes off the bench.

There were another couple of contentious TMO bunker decisions in Japan’s win over Samoa last night, with head contacts and red cards continuing to be a theme of this tournament. Need a refresher of the high tackle laws? Our handy explainer has you covered...