New Zealand vs Italy 2023 Rugby World Cup Predictions, Odds, Picks and Betting Preview

New Zealand bounced back from their opening Pool A loss to France with an emphatic win over Namibia last week.

The All Blacks will look to make it back-to-back wins when they face undefeated Italy this coming Friday.

Read on as Sports Brief brings you a preview of this matchup.

Where: OL Stadium, France

When: Friday, September 29 - 9:00pm local time

Odds: New Zealand (-27.5) vs. Italy (+27.5) - view all lines

The All Blacks delivered a statement win after seeing their 31-match perfect record in Rugby World Cup pool stages come to an end against host nation France on September 9.

They crushed Namibia 71-3 on September 15, with New Zealand scoring 11 tries in the rout.

It was a historic win for the All Blacks, who recorded their 50th win at the Rugby World Cup, per Yahoo Sports.

Such was New Zealand's dominance in this contest that they recorded a bonus-point fourth try after just 25 minutes.

They entered the halftime break with a 38-3 lead and continued piling on the points in the second half. New Zealand outscored Namibia 33-0 in the final half to seal their first win in this year's World Cup.

Next up for New Zealand is a clash with Italy. The All Blacks will fancy their chances of grabbing the victory in this contest as they have fared extremely well against the Azzurri in their past matchups.

They have faced each other 15 times in Test matches, with the All Blacks winning them all by an average margin of 51 points. New Zealand trounced Italy 47-9 in their previous meeting back in 2021.

The All Blacks will be missing Ethan De Groot for their upcoming games against Italy and Uruguay after he got a two-match ban for the red card he received late versus Namibia.

Italy will head to their showdown against New Zealand with momentum on their side after beating Uruguay 38-17 in their last group match.

The Azzurri have now won their first two group games by an average of 32.5 points.

However, they looked far from impressive in the win against Uruguay, with Los Teros building a 17-7 lead at the end of the first half, per the BBC.

Italy got their act together in the second half, outscoring Uruguay 31-0 to turn a 10-point halftime deficit into a 21-point win in the end.

For Italy to record a major upset against New Zealand, they will need to get outstanding performances from Tommaso Allan, Paolo Garbisi and Michele Lamaro.

Allan is ranked second in conversions in this year's World Cup with 12 and fifth in points with 27.

Garbisi is ranked second in the runs department at the 2023 Rugby World Cup with 31. Lamaro has recorded 35 tackles in Italy's first two matches, good for second place in the tournament.

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The Wallabies must win this contest to keep their hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals alive.

They have been installed as 1.5-point underdogs against the Red Dragons.