LONDON — Nobody does ruthless like New Zealand. Three of the six highest scores in Rugby World Cup history are the All Blacks’.



Another big score was forecast from a game in which they were the 77-point favorites at the Olympic Stadium Thursday, but Namibia promised it wouldn’t lose by that much and it fulfilled its promise. The Namibians lost by only 58-14, and were proud losers.



The All Blacks, fielding their B side with 12 changes, four days after the win over Argentina, were winners but lost their smiles long before the end. They could hardly have dominated a game more. They had three-quarters of possession and territory, had Namibia squeezed in the scrums, and broke the Namibia lines constantly.



But the Namibians swarmed in defense, constantly causing knock ons, or forcing an error when the All Blacks seemed set to score.



The match never really flowed in perfect conditions, and that was to the Namibians’ benefit. There were 20 scrums, plus seemingly 20 more reset scrums, and more time off the clock.



The All Blacks kept misfiring. Even while Namibia was down to 14 men after a professional foul by veteran prop Jaco Engels, New Zealand scored just one of its nine tries. And Namibia’s defense was such that most of the tries were in the corners, giving flyhalf Beauden Barrett difficult angles from the sidelines. He converted five.



New Zealand coach Steve Hansen wanted improvement on the Argentina result, which was a solid effort by the strongest All Blacks side, but there would only be frustration at failing to transfer utter domination over Namibia onto the scoreboard. Unable to create the speed and flow they enjoy, New Zealand could merely be happy to wrap up a second win from two games in Pool C without any serious injuries. Only their pride took a hit.



Namibia, the lowest-ranked team and last to get underway in the tournament, gave another example of improvement by the Tier Two teams when they are given time and attention to prepare. — AP