It was a day of redemption for the All Blacks after their invincible status took a bad blow during last week's Dublin debacle. Battered and bruised against the Irish, the malfunctioned humanoids pressed the restart button in order to cap of an otherwise remarkable nearly all-conquering season on a high note when they took on Italy. 

After rebooting their machine, Kieran Read's boys not only steamrolled a hapless Italy to register a thumping 66-3 triumph with 10 tries but also reinforced the spirit of supremacy within themselves as they will defend the Web Ellis Trophy in less than year's time.

Except the inglorious catastrophe against Joe Schmidt's side last weekend and an upset home defeat against the Springboks a few months ago, the Rugby Championship-winning side has been invincible throughout the season, including their three walloping wins over the Wallabies and a hard-fought last gasp win over England at Twickenham last month. 

“I'm really proud of the boys. It's been a tough end of year tour, we've played some difficult opposition, we didn't get the result we wanted in Dublin but bounced back and put a performance in that not only they could be proud of but the management and the whole of New Zealand can be proud of,” a visibly relieved ABs head coach Steve Hansen told Sky Sports after his side's Rome conquest.

Jordie Barrett, coming out of his superstar brother Beauden's shadow, led the onslaught against the Azzurri with four tries while fullback Damian McKenzie added another three to the overwhelming ten at Stadio Olimpico on Saturday night. The almost blemishless all-round performance underlined skipper Read's “empty the tank” battle cry before his side's season-ender. 

“It did get a bit scrappy as it does on these occasions but the effort was there from the first to the 80th minute,” Read reacted after the cakewalk like victory.

TJ Perenara, Ngani Laumape and Beauden Barrett accomplished the other tries of the game that set the countdown clock for the 2019 World Cup ticking.