No French frolics this time, just pure black magic. The record books will show that New Zealand cruised into the World Cup semi-finals without a backward glance but give little hint of the cruel beauty of this nine-try exhibition. This was attacking rugby par excellence, performed by a side who prefer the stiletto to the lead piping. If they keep playing like this, the Webb Ellis Cup is heading in only one direction.
Their next opponents, South Africa, will offer a rather stiffer challenge than France were able to do but the Springboks are not in the same league in terms of making neutrals gasp at the quality of their execution. New Zealand scored four tries in the first half alone and three of them, in their different ways, ranked alongside any of the excellent scores previously seen at this spectacular tournament. To be in Cardiff to witness them was to be simultaneously entranced and grateful.
Even France can console themselves they lost out to a good side playing like a great one. In the space of 15 minutes towards the end of the first half, in particular, the All Blacks were irresistible. Nehe Milner-Skudder’s devastating sidestep, Dan Carter’s sweet back-handed off-load, Julian Savea’s scarily convincing Jonah Lomu impression … all three suggested a New Zealand team whose days of freezing on the big occasion, particularly against French opposition, are long gone.
From the moment Freddie Michalak’s attempt at a clearing punt was charged down by the marauding Brodie Retallick to give the All Blacks the softest of try-scoring starts after just 10 minutes the outcome was never in doubt. Louis Picamoles, until being sent to the sin-bin for trying to wipe the smile off the prone Richie McCaw’s face, was a one-man band of bristling resistance while Scott Spedding at full-back also gave everything – but they fought a forlorn battle.
The pressure is now well and truly on the northern hemisphere.
Just as Wales’s near miss made life a little harder for France, the onus is now on Ireland and Scotland to paper over the shortcomings of others. If not it will be the first time in World Cup history that the south have enjoyed a clean sweep. Given where the tournament is being staged it would be a deeply uncomfortable statistic.
All they can do, in the short term, is marvel at New Zealand’s ability to make the brilliant look pretty routine. Savea had previously scored five tries without setting Britain alight. His hat-trick here, however, not only brought him level with Lomu and Bryan Habana for the most tries ever scored in a World Cup tournament but maintained a Test strike rate that ranks with that of any player in the history of the game.
He now has 38 tries in 39 games, few of them better than the 38th-minute stunner that took him past and through Picamoles, Brice Dulin and Rabah Slimani in a manner reminiscent of Lomu’s flattening of Mike Catt in Cape Town in 1995.
He was far from alone. It is often the little things that make the difference with New Zealand and their massive victory was founded on impeccably constructed foundations. When Guilhem Guirado charged down Carter’s attempted drop goal early in the second quarter, for example, it briefly seemed as though France might have a glimmer of an opportunity.
Instead, in the blink of an eye, there were three All Blacks back behind the ball, offering a means of escape. A couple of rucks later and Ma’a Nonu’s reflex catch and sympathetic pass to Milner-Skudder saw the winger pinball off his right foot and leave Dulin for dead.
An isolated instance of class? Hardly. Carter is supposed to be past it but his arcing run, change of pace and perfectly timed flip out of the back door to Savea six minutes later recalled his heyday in Wellington against the Lions in 2005. New Zealand, in the process, became the first team to score 300 tries at Rugby World Cups. No one else has even topped 200.
The chances of the All Blacks being overhauled from 24-6 down were nonexistent, even after Picamoles charged through to restore a little order. Savea’s party piece made it 29-13 at half-time, however, and what followed was total carnage. Jerome Kaino benefited from Beauden Barrett’s artful scoring pass, Savea stormed unstoppably clear for his third, the replacement scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow scored a quickfire brace and Nonu came close to adding a 10th try with a vivid late surge.
Before kick-off the World Cup authorities did their best to ramp up expectation by replaying excerpts from the 2007 quarter-final between these sides. The supposed sequel bore no similarity whatsoever.
Talk about southern comfort. At least the 2015 World Cup party has embraced all-comers off the field. This was a Cardiff rugby weekend in excelsis: French, Kiwis, Argentinians and Irish pouring into city pubs along with the half of Wales who were not actually at Twickenham. Had more of them been able to gain entry, rather than standing in the street, the bar profits would have been monumental. Not only were people watching from outside through the windows they were even doing so from the pavement on the other side of the road.
The chasm separating New Zealand at their best from the pedestrian European majority is wider still.
New Zealand B Smith; Milner-Skudder (Barrett 42), C Smith, Nonu, Savea; Carter, A Smith; Crockett (Moody 28), Coles, O Franks, Retallick, Whitelock, Kaino, McCaw (capt), Read Tries Retallick, Milner-Skudder, Savea 3, Kaino, Read, Kerr-Barlow 2 Cons Carter 7 Pen Carter.
France Spedding; Nakaitaci, Dumoulin, Fofana, Dulin; Michalak (Tales 10), Parra; Ben Arous, Guirado, Slimani, Pape, Maestri, Dusautoir (capt), Le Roux, Picamoles Sin-bin Picamoles 47 Try Picamoles Con Parra Pens Spedding, Parra
