New Zealand stormed to a 85-8 victory over Romania in their Rugby World Cup Pool C clash in Toulouse.
New Zealand continued their march through the World Cup with a crushing victory over minnows Romania in Toulouse.
There was little riding on the Pool C match with the All Blacks having already swept into the quarter-finals on the back of emphatic wins over Italy, Portugal and Scotland.
Yet they showed great desire to take their points tally - 224 going into the match - over 300 by running 13 tries past the outclassed Romanians.
Joe Rokocoko led the way with a hat-trick while Sitiveni Sivivatu and Isaia Toeava also crossed twice.
It was another emphatic statement from the All Blacks, who needed less than a minute open the scoring as Sivivatu found space out wide to go over for his first.
Chris Masoe followed him over nine minutes later and after a failed attempt to bulldoze over in the middle for a third try, the ball was simply spread wide for Rokocoko to cross.
Andrew Ellis then looked set to get in on the act but an ankle tap saw him lose possession and Nick Evans scooped up the ball to score instead.
The Romanians had no answer to New Zealand's fast attack and the one-way traffic continued as Sivivatu claimed a simple fifth try after 25 minutes. The powerful winger made his task look easy as he took a defender over the line with him to touch down.
Luke McAlister's third conversion made it 31-0 but Romania showed some spirit and did manage to pull a try back through Marius Tincu. Their forwards combined well and for once caught the All Blacks on the back foot.
Normal service was resumed before the interval, however, as slick play down the left saw Toeava put Aaron Mauger over to make it 36-5 at the break.
Romania showed some determination to take more from the contest early in the second half but the relentless All Blacks could not be contained.
After a brief period of restraint, Toeava broke the shackles again as he burst through from an Ellis pass to take New Zealand past 40 points for the fourth time in the tournament.
Another try followed before the hour as number eight Sione Lauaki broke from deep inside his own half and put the speedy Rokocoko over for his second.
Conversions from McAlister and, after taking over goalkicking duties, Evans took the score to 50-5.
The procession continued as substitute Andrew Hore found his way over after good work from Chris Jack.
Rokocoko then cut inside and sauntered over to complete his hat-trick from a neat inside pass from Jerry Collins.
Romania did enjoy a good spell towards the end, and even managed to claim three more points when substitute Florin Vlaicu was given the chance to kick at goal from a penalty.
They attacked again in the hope of scoring a second try but the move broke down and the All Blacks punished them to score on the counter-attack through Conrad Smith.
Further efforts from Doug Howlett and Toeava wrapped up the scoring in the closing minutes. Evans finished with five conversions to his name.
New Zealand (36) 85
Tries: Sivivatu (2), Masoe, Rokocoko (3), Evans, Mauger, Toeava (2), Hore, Smith, Howlett
Con: McAlister (4), Evans (6)
Romania (5) 8
Try: Tincu
Pen: Vlaicu
New Zealand: Evans, Rokocoko, Toeava, Mauger, Sivivatu, McAlister, Ellis, Tialata, Mealamu, Somerville, Thorne, Robinson, Collins, Masoe, Lauaki.
Replacements: Hore, Woodcock, Jack, McCaw, Leonard, Howlett, Smith.
Romania: Dumitras, Ciuntu, Gal, Gontineac, Brezoianu, Dimofte, Sirbu, B. Balan, Tincu, Florea, Socol, Petre, Corodeanu, Manta, Tonita.
Replacements: Mavrodin, Ion, Ursache, Ratiu, Calafeteanu, Vlaicu, Dascalu.
source: scrum.com
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