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All Blacks humiliate Japan

Hamilton - New Zealand pummelled hapless Japan 83-7 Friday in an embarrassingly one-sided rout which brought back the horrors of Rugby World Cups past for Asia's top team.

The makeshift All Blacks, with Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Mils Muliania among those missing injured, scored 13 tries at a rate of one every six minutes to evoke memories of the Bloemfontein massacre of 1995, when they won 145-17.

The performance, at a packed but unexcited Waikato Stadium, was by far the heaviest defeat in a World Cup which has so far been notable for the giant strides smaller teams have made to catch up with the established nations.

New Zealand were on the board with their first attack when Ma'a Nonu and Isaia Toeava set up Conrad Smith for a score wide left, in an ominous start to a half which yielded six tries by six different players in black.

Richard Kahui ran in the second 12 minutes later, Jerome Kaino went over from a ruck and stand-in captain Keven Mealamu swatted away a defender on the line before Andy Ellis and Colin Slade scored within a minute of each other.

Nonu was striding through the Japan defenders at will, while the Brave Blossoms wilted each time they had the ball and went into the break 38-0 down after spending less than five minutes in their opponents' half.

The scoreboard was static for only five second-half minutes when Kahui got his second before rugby league-cum-boxing star Sonny Bill Williams, introduced for wing Cory Jane, strode over for his first All Blacks try.

Toeava went over before flyhalf Slade dished up the ball in a tackle to Japan veteran Hirotoki Onozawa for an intercept try which made him only the 15th player to score in three World Cups.

Slade, Nonu, Andrew Hore and Adam Thomson were also in on the action and Williams got a second before referee Nigel Owens ended the torture for Japan, who had impressed with a brave performance against France in their first game.

New Zealand's biggest ever World Cup win was the 145-17 thumping of Japan in 1995, while the Brave Blossoms have now conceded 50 points or more in nine World Cup games.

The All Blacks now face a stiffer test against France next Saturday while Japan will revert to their strongest line-up for their must-win game against Tonga on Wednesday.

The game was preceded by a sombre minute's silence for victims of earthquake disasters in Japan and New Zealand this year which left more than 20 000 people dead.

Teams

New Zealand:
15 Isaia Toeava, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Richard Kahui, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Andy Ellis, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Adam Thomson, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu (captain), 1 Tony Woodcock.

Substitutes: 16 Andrew Hore, 17 John Afoa, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Anthony Boric, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Sonny Bill Williams.

Japan:
15 Taihei Ueda, 14 Takehisa Usuzuki, 13 Koji Taira, 12 Yuta Imamura, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 Murray Williams, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Takashi Kikutani (captain), 7 Michael Leitch, 6 Itaru Taniguchi, 5 Toshizumi Kitagawa, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Nozomu Fujita, 2 Yusuke Aoki, 1 Naoki Kawamata

Substitutes: 16 Hiroki Yuhara, 17 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 18 Yuji Kitagawa, 19 Sione Vatuvei, 20 Tomoki Yoshida, 21 Shaun Webb, 22 Alisi Tupuailai

All Blacks scrumhalf Andrew Ellis scores a try during their 2011 Rugby World Cup pool A match against Japan at the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton.

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