New Zealand hand down drubbing to Canada

New Zealand administered the biggest drubbing of the 2019 Rugby World Cup so far, when they thrashed Canada 63- nil in a pool B match in Oita, Japan. In contrast, France left it very late against the USA, eventually winning 33-9, to move up to second place in Pool C.

A mismatch was on the cards when New Zealand came up against Canada in a Pool B match.

Two of the Barrett brothers, Jordie and then Beauden crashed, over for first half tries in a match where three siblings started a World Cup match for the All Blacks for the first time. It was not quite the try fest many would have been expecting, Canada was weathering the storm to a certain degree.

A penalty try and three converted scores saw New Zealand 28 nil up, with the bonus point in hand, at the break.

After the break the proverbial floodgates opened, and the third Barrett brother, Scott, got his name on the score sheet, as the All Blacks began to score at a point a minute. The All Blacks doubled their first half tally within the first 12 minutes of the second half. While the pace of scoring slowed down, the Kiwis were still able to register a 63-nil win, adding a further five tries.

Meanwhile in Pool C, France was up against the USA. After beating Argentina in their first match, France would have been confident of qualifying for the quarter-finals, with their match against England ear-marked as the pool decider. All they needed to do was take care of the USA and Tonga in the meantime. However, the French were making a meal of it against the US, at half-time they had a precarious 12-6 lead. It was late in the second half that France got their act together, at one point the USA were within 3 points of the French. Les Bleus went on to collect a bonus point as they scored five tries in the match to beat the USA 33-9.