By Melody Gross 
Big victory in Lyon 96-17
New Zealand beat Italy on Friday, with a 96-17 win in Lyon in the Rugby World Cup group stage, taking an important step towards qualifying for the quarter-finals.
The All Blacks got their extra point in the 22nd minute, raising their score to 10 points, like the Italians, in second place in the group behind leaders France.
Through 14 Tests in total, the former world champions showed strong ‘firepower’ against a side that were also favorites to qualify.
To conclude this stage, New Zealand plays against Uruguay, where a bonus point win is enough to count on. On the other hand, Italy ends up with France, which if it loses risks falling to third place.
For the first time in the tournament, the All Blacks played without losses, which was greatly reflected in the quality of the match.
The dreams in “Nacionale” did not last five minutes, the time it took to get to the first New Zealand rehearsal.
Will Jordan scored on a pass from Jordie Barrett’s foot. Richie Monga converted and left the score at 7-0.
In the 17th minute, Aaron Smith made it 14-3 against a clearly slower opponent.
The bonus point arrived in the 23rd minute (with 28-3 on the scoreboard) and twenty minutes later it went to halftime with the score 49-13.
New Zealand did not slow down in the second half, adding eight more tries to the score. The Italians scored two goals through Ange Capuzzo and Monte Ioani, without anything disturbing the opponent.
By Lusa