Quesada rails against referees and travel after Italy's 47-17 collapse against All Blacks

Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada launched a pointed post-match critique of the officiating after his side were beaten 47-17 by New Zealand in Wellington, arguing the final scoreline did not reflect the full picture of a game Italy were still in at the break.

The Azzurri trailed by just four points — 14-10 — at half-time, but the All Blacks detonated a 15-minute blitz after the restart, scoring four tries and 24 points to put the match beyond Italy’s reach. Quesada described that opening spell of the second half as “terrible” and laid part of the blame squarely at the feet of the match officials.

“I think the final score doesn’t reflect completely the game,” Quesada said. “The score is a bit [the] responsibility of the refereeing team. They did a lot of mistakes today.”

The coach pointed to three specific decisions he felt went against his side. First, a try by centre Tommaso Menoncello was ruled out in the first half — the referee initially called for a tackle-and-release infringement before ruling held up — despite Quesada insisting Menoncello had grounded the ball after being dragged over the line without being released. “When the attacker didn’t release him, after the referee told him to release, was a try,” he said.

Second, a yellow card issued to All Blacks fly-half Ruben Love was reversed during the match. Third, Italy lock Niccolò Cannone had his yellow card upgraded to a red following a TMO review — a decision Quesada called “a bit harsh” given he felt Cannone had been held on the floor by an All Blacks forward at the time.

“I think the 20-minute red card on our number four, Niccolò Cannone, held up on the floor by [All Black] 17 and not even seeing it, is a bit harsh,” Quesada said. “I think the yellow on Love, their number 10 — it’s a yellow.”

Italy had started brightly, with Menoncello breaking through an upper-body tackle before combining with his winger to score the opening try. New Zealand levelled through Sam Darry before Leroy Carter, playing through an AC joint injury, latched onto a Jordie Barrett grubber to set up Will Jordan’s first try of the night and give the All Blacks a lead they would not relinquish.

A cameo from Josh Moorby helped accelerate the second-half scoring, with Italy struggling to cope as their injury list grew. Quesada acknowledged his side made nearly 300 tackles across the 80 minutes and said he remained proud of his players’ effort despite the margin.

“Facing the All Blacks was a test for us — on our character, on our cohesion,” he said. “I think even fitness-wise, it was tough for the guys. I’m really proud of the heart of this team.”