3. Marco Riccioni – 7
Italy’s scrum wasn’t as effective when he and his front-row partners made their way off the pitch and carried the ball better than almost everyone else for Italy.
4. Niccolo Cannone – 1
Also made his 65th cap and was rightly sent off for a headbutt on Cam Roigard. Carried the ball fairly well but really let his side down with his ridiculous action.
5. Andrea Zambonin – 5
Totalled 16 tackles on the night, but did little to aid his team in attack.
6. Ross Vintcent – 8
The South African-born player was unable to help his side reproduce what the Springboks did in Wellington last year, but put in a strong individual performance racking up 30 tackles. His attacking play could have been better but was very important to Italy’s strong play in the first half.
7. Michele Lamaro (c) – 5
Came off just before the hour mark, making 11 tackles and a few good runs with the ball in hand.
8. Lorenzo Cannone – 7
Taken off early in the second half with an injury, but provided some impressive defensive work, including 17 tackles, in the first half, which caused the All Blacks plenty of trouble.
9. Stephen Varney – 6
The Welsh-born halfback saw out the entire game because of Allan’s injury and helped to move the ball about well, but couldn’t be effective in the second half because of how dominant the All Blacks became.
10. Paolo Garbisi – 6
Went 100% off the tee last week against Japan, but shared the load with Allan this time around. His kicking from the hand wasn’t the best and set his side back in this regard when they looked like they were starting to build pressure, but his passing and defensive work was solid overall.
11. Louis Lynagh – 5
Starting this week in place of Monty Ioane, but wasn’t threatening when the ball made its way to him.
12. Tommaso Menoncello – 8
Scored the opening try of the match which he helped to set up with an impressive line break. Also secured a turnover and his tackles went into the double digits, proving why some have described him as the best 12 in the world right now.
13. Juan Ignacio Brex – 6
Scored Italy’s only try against Japan last week, but was very quiet in attack against the All Blacks. His work in defence was good though, with plenty of big tackles.
14. Malik Faissal – 7
Earned his second cap for Italy and linked up well with Menoncello for Italy’s opening try. Regularly exposed the All Blacks defence with his darting runs and his side looked less threatening going forward with him off the pitch for the entire second half.
15. Tommasso Allan – 7
Came into the Italian side for Lorenzo Pani, who went off injured against Japan last week to make his 91st appearance for his country. Did a good job kicking off the tee and made two line breaks, but was forced off thanks to a nasty-looking injury midway through the second half.
Bench:
16. Gianmarco Lucchesi – 4
Came on as the All Blacks were starting to dominate the game, but contributed as best he could with eight tackles.
17. Mirco Spagnolo – 3
Unable to be as dominant as Fischetti when he came on just before the 55-minute mark and didn’t contribute much to the Italian effort overall.
18. Muhamed Hasa – 4
The Albania-born prop had to wait until just after the hour mark to complete the replacement front row. His six tackles did help the Italian effort, but the game had already run away from them at that point.
19. Giulio Marini – 5
Made his test debut in Wellington when he stepped on the field in the 48th minute. Had only two carries, but stuck himself in the mix defensively with 13 tackles on the night.
20. Federico Ruzza – 3
Unable to have too much of an impact in the 17 minutes he was on the pitch.
21. Riccardo Favretto – 3
Forced on to the pitch early in the second half because of Lorenzo Cannone’s injury but was limited in defence, with just five tackles.
22. Alessandro Garbisi – 4
Brother of Paolo, Alessandro was supposed to be cover at halfback but Allan’s injury forced Italy to put him in an unconventional position. He did well defensively with five tackles but not much when Italy did go on the attack.
23. Leonardo Marin – 7
The versatile back was called into action earlier than expected with Faissal making way at halftime. Took his try well and did a solid job in the second half, including securing one turnover.