New Zealand hammers Namibia 71-3 at Rugby World Cup
Scrum-half Cam Roigard and fly-half Damian McKenzie scored two tries each and made a strong bid for first-team roles as New Zealand beat Namibia 71-3 in the Rugby World Cup on Friday.
The New Zealand lineup wasn’t second string but featured nine changes from the team which lost to France 27-13 in the first match of the tournament, including the new halves pairing of Roigard and McKenzie. Both may need to be considered at least for bench roles in the All Blacks’ top lineup later in the tournament.
The All Blacks had a dominant set-piece and scored one of their tries from a tighthead at which they thrust the Namibia pack over its line from a five-meter scrum. New Zealand mostly targeted Brodie Retallick at lineouts, meaning not much was seen of Sam Whitelock, who equaled Richie McCaw’s record of 148 tests for the All Blacks.