Can anyone stop magnificent All Blacks?

A HAT-TRICK of tries for Munster-bound winger Doug Howlett — to draw him level with Christian Cullen at the top of the All-Black try-scoring charts — was the good news for Irish fans after this rout in Marseille on Saturday.

The bad news? Wins over both Argentina and France become a must if Ireland is to avoid New Zealand in the quarter-final, and almost certain defeat. The All Blacks looked magnificent, and for the opening 20 minutes especially, they looked unstoppable. They are on a mission, and this was as emphatic a mission statement as they could have given.

Marseille is on the Mediterranean, a coastline that zigs and zags . All along are little beaches, with adjacent public parking areas. On Saturday morning, most of those spaces were taken up with camper vans; a few French, a few English-registered but New Zealand loyalties unmistakably displayed (an estimated 150,00 are based in Britain, and a good 20,000 of those appear to be in Marseille). Mostly, however, they were Italian and were they having a party. Tables, sandwiches, coffee, wine, “Buon giorno!” ringing out along the promenade. That was about as good as this day ever got for these Italians. They had come in hope, colourful and noisy, their dreams of a huge upset against the tournament favourites buoyed by a best-ever Six-Nations performance. Italy played some good rugby, but by the time they did, it was over.