Italy to shock All Blacks at RWC 2023? It's 'ludicrous' to think that, says coach

New Zealand may not be rugby's dominant force as they once were but beating them remains more a fanciful dream than a realistic possibility, Italy's defence coach Marius Goosen said on Tuesday.

Italy have earned many plaudits recently for a marked upturn in performances and results.

Last year, they beat Australia for the first time and also broke new ground in winning away to Wales.

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New Zealand, on the other hand, come into Friday's Pool A clash in Lyon at an all-time low of fourth in the world rankings and having lost a pool stage match for the first time in their history, when hosts France beat them 27-13 in the tournament's opening match.

But South African Goosen said that does not make an Italy victory any more likely on Friday.

"I'm not going to talk about beating them. If you look at the last 16 games Italy played against them, there was a 50-point difference on average," said Goosen.

"So it's ludicrous from us to stand here and say we're going to go in there and win the game."

This will actually be the 16th meeting between the two sides, with all 15 previous ones won by New Zealand.

Their record victory over Italy was a 101-3 thrashing during the 1999 World Cup, just eight years after Italy got the closest they have in the series, losing 31-21 at the 1991 World Cup.

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But in the last four meetings between the sides, New Zealand have racked up a total of 223 points.

"We know that they're going to put us under an immense amount of pressure and we have to handle that pressure and then find our own ways to put them under pressure," Goosen told AFP at Italy's training base in east-central France.

"For us, it's