New Zealand bounced back from their opening Rugby World Cup defeat to France by dominating Namibia, winning 71-3 at Stadium de Toulouse on Friday.
It was one-way traffic in the Pool A clash as the All Blacks ran in 11 tries on the night, with Damian McKenzie adding a further 16 points off the tee.
Electric half-backs Cam Roigard and McKenzie starred with two tries apiece while Leicester Fainga'anuku, Anton Lienert-Brown, Ethan De Groot, Dalton Papali'i, David Havili, Caleb Clarke and Rieko Ioane also crossed as New Zealand showed their class.
However, replacement prop De Groot's evening was soured by a yellow card that was upgraded to red after he made head on head contact in a tackle.
There was no such negativity for scrum-half Roigard though, with the youngster shining on his first start as he won the Player of the Match award.
Namibia remain without a victory in 23 attempts at the World Cup going back to 1999 and never looked strong enough to pose problems for New Zealand.
The three-time winners drew first blood after only two minutes. McKenzie kicked on for Fainga'anuku to collect and he offloaded for Roigard to take over and score under the posts, with McKenzie converting comfortably.
It took only another six minutes for the lead to extend to 12 points when Roigard received the ball from a scrum and went over for his second try.
Namibia's night took a further turn for the worse when centre Le Roux Malan suffered a bad knee injury, leaving the pitch on a stretcher and clutching an oxygen mask, moments after Tiaan Swanepoel had cut the deficit with a penalty.
Minutes later New Zealand pulled further ahead when McKenzie went over for a converted try, weaving through Namibia's line to make it 19-3.
The bonus point was secured for the All Blacks with 15 minutes of the first half still to play, Fainga'anuku powering over and showing excellent hands for his team's fourth try, before two tries in just over a minute made the score unassailable before the break.
First, Lienert-Brown took full advantage of the slippery conditions with two well controlled kicks along the ground to get in behind Namibia and drop on it as it crossed the try-line, then McKenzie added his second of the game when he collected from Roigard off a scrum and crossed the whitewash to make it 38-3 at the interval.
De Groot ensured New Zealand began the second half in the same ruthless vain with which they finished the first, the prop crashing over just 30 seconds after coming off the bench despite the attentions of two Namibia defenders.
Beauden Barrett made the next try for Papali'i, breaking out wide before slipping the ball across with a fine bullet pass for the flanker to go over under the posts, minutes before Havili took advantage of a superb run through the middle from Roigard to go over the line and make it 57-3.
👏 Filthy from Ofa Tu'ungafasi. #NZLvNAM #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/0AwfdmkSRU
― Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) September 15, 2023
Clarke scored New Zealand's 10th try when he got on the end of a cross-field kick from Richie Mo'unga to slide over the line.
De Groot was sent to the sin bin with eight minutes to play ― later upgraded to a red card for dangerous play ― but it did not halt New Zealand's charge, replacement Ioane scoring to make it 71-3 near the end.
The teams
New Zealand: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Caleb Clarke, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 David Havili, 11 Leicester Fainga'anuku, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Ardie Savea (c), 7 Dalton Papali'i, 6 Luke Jacobson, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Samisoni Taukei'aho, 1 Ofa Tu'ungafasi
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Ethan de Groot, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Tupou Vaa'i, 21 Aaron Smith, 22 Richie Mo'unga, 23 Rieko Ioane
Namibia: 15 Cliven Loubser, 14 Gerswin Mouton, 13 Johan Deysel (c), 12 Le Roux Malan, 11 Divan Rossouw, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 9 Damian Stevens, 8 Richard Hardwick, 7 Prince Gaoseb, 6 Wian Conradie, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi, 4 Johan Retief, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Jason Benade
Replacements: 16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 Desiderius Sethie, 18 Haitembu Shifuka, 19 PJ Van Lill, 20 Adriaan Booysen, 21 Max Katjijeko, 22 Jacques Theron, 23 JC Greyling
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Jordan Way (Australia)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
The game in Lille was predicted to be a comfortable result for Les Bleus but it was anything but as Los Teros will view this as a match they could have won.
The Fijians came agonisingly close to recovering from 32-14 down with just seven minutes remaining, but a knock-on from Semi Radradra ended their fight.
It wasn’t a game full of entertaining and free-flowing rugby as both sides rolled up their sleeves in a battle that the Springboks ultimately got the better of.
The game was filled with running from start to finish with the sharp-shooting boot of fly-half Rikiya Matsuda and six tries enough to secure the Brave Blossoms their first victory of this year’s tournament.
Despite being without Tom Curry after he received an upgraded yellow card to red after barely three minutes, England produced an inspired performance.
The fly-half played 66 minutes in Bordeaux, and he celebrated his comeback match with two tries and seven conversions as the Irish cruised to five points.
The drought is finally over for the Wallabies as tries from Jordan Petaia, Mark Nawaqanitawase and Ben Donaldson (2) sealed a first-up pool triumph.
Although it was a comfortable win in the end, the Azzurri were made to work hard for the result, especially in the opening half when their opponents put in a competitive performance.
Tries from Damian Penaud and Melvyn Jaminet were added to by 17 points from the boot of Thomas Ramos as Les Bleus claimed a deserved triumph.
In a fast-paced and exciting encounter in which both sides gave the ball plenty of air, Les Bleus were full value for their win as they held the upper-hand for long periods and eventually outscored their opponents by four tries to three.
The visitors created history at the home of English rugby on Saturday as Steve Borthwick’s men fell to a 30-22 loss in front of a disappointed home crowd.
Trailing 10-7 at the interval before a further Lima Sopoaga penalty extended the margin to six points on 46 minutes, Ireland managed to avoid a shock defeat.
It was a frustrating opening 40 minutes for Gregor Townsend’s men as two Luka Matkava penalties sent the Lelos into the half-time interval with a narrow lead.
The Azzurri’s wings Ange Capuozzo and Monty Ioane were on song as they caused huge problems throughout the clash, which led to some beautiful tries.
On this evidence, the defending champions will be incredibly difficult to beat in France as they utterly dismantled their opponents on Friday to secure a record victory.
Crossings from Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Mack Hansen and Keith Earls saw the Irish to a comfortable triumph in Dublin on Saturday.
It was a statement win from the reigning World Cup champions ahead of the tournament, as Siya Kolisi marked his comeback with a superb 40 minutes.
Despite fielding a makeshift side, Les Bleus still impressed and opened up a 16-3 advantage through Peato Mauvaka’s try and three Melvyn Jaminet penalties.
It was a clinical performance from the home side, who dominated for long periods, but their task was made much easier after referee Luke Pearce issued a red card to Motoc in the 10th minute, after he led with his head while clearing out Italy captain Michele Lamaro at a ruck.
Steve Borthwick named the most experienced England team ever, with 1067 Test caps worth of experience for the fixture.
A brace from Scotland winger Kyle Steyn almost secured the visitors the win, but in the end, Ramos’ boot had the final say at the end of the game.