Ruthless New Zealand place Ireland on high alert - and question future of rugby

01 October 2023 , 08:40

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All Black team mates celebrate Aaron Smith's third try against hapless Italy (Image: Getty Images)

Ireland were placed on high alert after Aaron Smith revealed New Zealand’s dissatisfaction at not making an even “bigger statement” at the World Cup.

The All Blacks star scored a hat-trick as the rampant Kiwis stuck 96 points on Italy and set themselves on a quarter-final collision course with Andy Farrell’s top-rated side.

Their 14-try exhibition was a thing of beauty and led New Zealand boss Ian Foster to spark a debate about the very future of rugby.

“If you look at the South Africa-Ireland game, it was a different game of rugby,” he said. “The ball was in play for 27 minutes throughout the whole game. It was very stop-start, very physical, very combative.

“You saw a different spectacle here and at some point the world has got to decide which game it would rather watch.”

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More concerning for Ireland even than New Zealand’s ruthless destruction of a decent Azzurri team, was the All Blacks’ measured reaction to it.

Will Jordan's spectacular finish set tone for All Blacks' 14-try rout of Italy (AFP via Getty Images)

Smith said: “I guess it’s a statement but, as a player, you’re still looking at things we could have done a lot better.

“ I’m just thinking of that 10 minutes after half-time that we let them squeeze us a bit and our discipline slipped and our energy was a bit low. I’m an old boy and a bit grumpy with things like that.

“There was a huge opportunity there to probably send a bigger statement. We still sent one but it could’ve been bigger. We’ve got to be a lot more ruthless.”

Robbie Henshaw celebrates Ireland's epic pool defeat of world champions South Africa (AFP via Getty Images)

Ireland have still to beat Scotland before they can turn their attention to the men in black and Foster claims that is not a given.

“We have put some pressure on other teams who have still tough games coming up,” he said. “Look at Ireland. If Scotland win two games then Ireland can miss out. It’s a tough World Cup.”

Scotland emphatically won the first of those two games last night, crushing Romania 84-0 to set up a potential Pool B shootout with the Irish in Paris on Saturday.

Alex Spink