ALL BLACKS CRUSH FRANCE
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IF there was a mutiny inside the France camp this week the impact on events here at the Millennium Stadium was negligible. To the irrepressible, irresistible All Blacks, the French offered little resistance, succumbing rather meekly in the end to a masterclass in international rugby.
When New Zealand play like this, nobody can live with them. Not Australia, not South Africa. Certainly not the French. They scored nine tries and it was rugby from a different world. Rugby played with more speed, flair and ferocity than any other side can manage.
No wonder the defending champions are now reflecting on a 12th successive victory in World Cup matches. As well as power and pace in their pack they have finishers like Nehe MilnerSkudder and Julian Savea, who when scoring one of his three tries bore more than a passing resemblance to Jonah Lomu at his unstoppable best.
Savea is now the leading try-scorer in this tournament with eight. That equals the joint record held by Lomu (1995) and Bryan Habana (2007).
Add to that what felt like the return of Dan Carter — one pass to Savea was outrageous — and Steve Hansen’s side are coming into form right on cue.
Of course, we have said this about New Zealand in the past only to see them come unstuck. And one thing France did occasionally expose was a degree of defensive indiscipline that the Springboks could yet exploit at Twickenham next weekend.
But my word this lot are good, wasting no time in making it clear to France there would be no repeat of that quarter-final exit in this stadium eight years ago. Never mind a tense, tight World Cup final in 2011.
This, it has to be said, is far from a vintage France side, and one imagines the departure of Philippe Saint-Andre as national coach will not be a comfortable one, given their performances both in this encounter and last week in defeat to the Irish.
On this occasion, though, they came up against a New Zealand side very much in the zone, the quality of their handling, from one to 15 and beyond, central to this victory. The fact front rower Owen Franks provided the final pass for Jerome Kaino’s superb second-half score said it all.
Eight years ago the French players faced down the Haka. This time they were more respectful, keeping their distance, but it did them little good.
The All Blacks made an explosive start, breaking the gain-line at will. First Ma’a Nonu breached the French defence, then Carter, the combination of power and invention a joy to watch. In the end a Carter penalty, scored in the seventh minute, was the sole reward for early pressure. But already the signs were ominous for the French. They had hardly touched the ball.
That said, the powerful boot of Scott Spedding — with a kick from inside his half — put France level.
But an attempted clearance kick from Freddie Michalak proved doubly disastrous, given the French fly-half appeared to pull his hamstring at the moment of execution. Brodie Retallick charged it down and nobody was stopping the ludicrously quick New Zealand lock, with Carter adding the extra points.
Morgan Parra reduced the deficit with the boot but an opening 15 minutes that had already seen them lose their mercurial No10 had been chastening for Saint-Andre’s men.
Parra missed an opportunity to reduce the gap to a single point but it did little more than remind New Zealand to turn on the style.
A charged-down drop-goal attempt from Carter was something they simply responded to by running in one of the tries of the tournament so far.
It was breathtaking, the precision of the passing, the fluidity of movement, no matter who was arriving to take the ball on; forward or back. MilnerSkudder skipped past Brice Dulin before accelerating away to finish it.
Carter again added two more points but what he did next had the crowd gasping in admiration as the big screen ran the replay. The offload to send Savea clear for New Zealand’s third try was sublime; more than a reminder of his enduring quality and a fine response to recent criticism.
This was such an open game. Not until the 32nd minute did we witness the first scrum. Louis Picamoles powered over to briefly stem the flow only for the irrepressible Savea to smash
his way past three French defenders and regain All Black control.
As their former fly-half Andrew Mehrtens said on the BBC, the ‘big bus’ had left ‘roadkill’ in his wake.
When Picamoles was sent to the sinbin for punching Richie McCaw on the ground, New Zealand were ruthless. A try from Kaino essentially put the semi-finals beyond France’s reach.
France were done, Savea crossing for his third before Kieran Read bounded over for New Zealand’s seventh try.
Tawera Kerr-Barlow came on to add two further tries as they became the first team to post more than 50 points in a World Cup knockout game.