All Black wave sweeps France away
They outscored France by nine tries to one at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to produce a 62-13 rout of a hapless French team – setting up a semifinal showdown against South Africa, who beat Wales 23-19 in a cliff-hanger quarterfinal earlier in the day.
Although they put up some initial resistance, the All Blacks moved into top gear and simply blew the French away.
Even with the Kiwis leading 29-13 at half-time, there was some who wondered if the French could launch another of their famous comebacks.
However, the All Black wave simply swept France away – five more tries ensuring that the class of 2015 conceded the most points by any French team ever.
The All Blacks also buried their demons, as Dan Carter directed the nine-try symphony to wipe France out of the World Cup.
Julian Savea bagged a hat-trick of tries with a rampaging performance reminiscent of Jonah Lomu as the All Blacks posted a record score for a knockout match.
A beaming and bloodied Richie McCaw was replaced 10 minutes from the final whistle knowing his side had put a decisive end to the legendary nightmare losses to France at the 1999 and 2007 tournaments.
McCaw highlighted how New Zealand had applied pressure from the start.
"We were pretty clinical in terms of when we got it in our own half and I am pretty proud of that."
His defending champions had promised to raise their game in the knockout stages and they delivered at a packed Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
In addition to Savea's triple, Tawera Kerr-Barlow touched down twice and Nehe Milner-Skudder, Brodie Retallick Jerome Kaino and Kieran Read also crossed – while Carter added 17 points from the boot.
France were restricted to a try by Louis Picamoles converted by Morgan Parra who also landed a penalty as did Scott Spedding.
Carter was a master puppeteer, pulling the strings to make France dance the way he wanted.
His restarts were with such pinpoint accuracy that the All Blacks were able to win them all.
Each time he ran with the ball he attracted two or more defenders opening up spaces out wide and his tackling was ferocious as it was for all the All Blacks.
Their pack which had creaked during pool matches, burst into life controlling the collision area and claiming three French line-outs.
New Zealand exploded out of the blocks, stunning the French with their early high-paced game but while they had territory and possession their finishing required attention.
They had to rely on a Carter penalty to get their first points on the board before Brodie Retallick charged down a Frederic Michalak kick, regathered and ran 35 metres unopposed to score.
The fluffed kick was Michalak's last act as he limped from the field with an apparent hamstring strain.
A 54-metre penalty by Scott Spedding and one from much closer by Morgan Parra, who took over the kicking duties from Michalak, kept France in touch in the first 20 minutes but the power and precision of the All Blacks was beginning to tell.
Milner-Skudder, with his deceptive side-step, stood up Brice Dulin and outpaced Spedding for the All Blacks second try.
Carter's conversion had the All Blacks ahead 17-6 with only a quarter of the game gone.
The flyhalf immediately set up the All Blacks third try from a line-out steal when he drew three defenders then flicked the ball out of the back of his hand to send Savea over.
Ben Smith set up Savea's second try claiming a high kick which the All Blacks swung wide to the left wing who steam-rolled over Noa Nakaitaci and Spedding on his way to the line.
France looked revived at the start of the second half putting the All Blacks under pressure on their own line but the work was undone when Picamoles punched an already bloodied McCaw starting an all-in brawl as the All Blacks went to defend their skipper.
It meant a yellow card for the French back row forward and cost his side their most effective player for 10 minutes.
The All Blacks were able to kick their way back on attack and from their they ran riot with five tries in the closing 30 minutes mostly stemming from offloads France were powerless to stop.
Man of the match: Scott Spedding did his best to spark the French, Louis Picamoles (before his brain explosion) worked hard up front. You can pick anyone of the New Zealanders, who were all far superior than their opponents. We decided to go with All Black fullback Ben Smith, who sparked the rout with his sublime attacks from the back and just edged Dan Carter and hat-trick hero Julian Savea in out in our awards.
Moment of the match: In a match of 10 great tries – yes, even the French try was good – there are many moments to choose from. We feel the two-try burst by Julian Savea just before half-time (29th and 38th minutes) is what ended the game as a contest. He later added a third.
Villain of the match: The French so often lose their cool when things don't go their way and Louis Picamoles' decision to put his fist in the face of Richie McCaw is testimony to this bad habit.
The scorers:
For New Zealand:
Tries: Retallick, Milner-Skudder, Savea 3, Kaino, Read, Kerr-Barlow 2
Cons: Carter 7
Pen: Carter
For France:
Try: Picamoles
Con: Parra
Pens: Spedding, Parra
Yellow card: Louis Picamoles (France, 47 – foul play, fist in the face)
Teams:
New Zealand: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Joe Moody, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Sonny Bill Williams.
France: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Alexandre Dumoulin, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Eddy Ben Arous.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud.
Referee: Nigel Owens
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper, John Lacey
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
Agence France-Presse & @rugby365com
