The All Blacks bounced back in style after losing their World Cup opener to France to hammer Namibia 71-3 in their second Pool A match in Toulouse this morning.
The Kiwis scored 11 unanswered tries while Namibia managed to score three points from a penalty.
Live-wire scrum-half Cam Roigard was the man of the match for the All Blacks scoring two back-to-back tries just within the first five minutes of the match while Damian McKenzie converted one.
Fly-half Tiaan Swanepoel got Namibia on the scoreboard with an 11th minute penalty before the play was stopped for several minutes after their centre Le Roux Malan sustained an ankle injury in what appeared to be an innocuous tackle.
McKenzie skipped over for the All Blacks’ third try after the restart and Fainga’anuku’s power from short range then proved too much as the winger bundled over the whitewash through three tackles to guarantee a bonus point.
As heavy rain swept into the stadium, Anton Lienert-Brown scored a neat try, collecting a McKenzie pass on the bounce and touching down over the line.
A Kicking mistake from Namibia saw McKenzie grab the ball and cross for his second after Roigard broke clear from a scrum to make it 38-3 at half-time.
The New Zealanders kept their strong dominance in the second half scoring five more tries through Ethan de Groot, Dalton Papali’i and David Havili.
Soon after, Ian Foster’s side was reduced to 14 players when De Groot was yellow carded for a no-arms tackle attempt, later upgraded to red by the bunker review system.
Yet, they managed two score two more tries through Caleb Clarke and Reiko Ioane while McKenzie booted the conversions to seal the win.
