All Blacks batter Les Bleus in record breaking quarter-final

Their four heaviest defeats?

This was also the second-heaviest beating inflicted on any side at this tournament.

All Blacks second five-eighth Ma’a Nonu is tackled by Remi Tales of France during their 2015 Rugby World Cup quarter rinal match at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

“New Zealand had more flair and more skill”, a painful admission that flowing and inventive French rugby is a thing of the past.

Cardiff had crackled with electricity all day, Irish and Argentinian fans mingling with those of last night’s participants ahead of their own last eight tie on Sunday lunchtime, and among them mingled a considerable number of Welsh supporters soured by their earlier loss to South Africa in London.

France had hoped to draw inspiration from their World Cup upsets over the All Blacks in 1999 and 2007, when they beat them in the quarter-finals in Cardiff, as well as their near-miss in the 2011 final, when they narrowly lost 8-7.

So it proved. And how.

The All Blacks were so dominant, so unflustered and so irresistible in winning 62-13 it was hard to tell how bad their devastated opponents were, if, indeed, they were that bad at all. They exploited the French backs’ tendency not to rush out wide and gobbled up the metres on the fringes.

But parity lasted less than two minutes as Retallick charged down Frederic Michalak’s kick and the All Blacks lock charged through unimpeded for the game’s first try.

The man who helped elevate the Wellington winger alongside Jonah Lomu and Habana as the greatest scorers in the cup’s history was the team’s quietly terrifying pivot, Dan Carter, here on a valedictory tour at the end of a glorious career.

The scrum-half was wasteful from the attempt, though, failing to find the target to the dismay of the many France supporters in attendance, which would ultimately prove costly.

But the revival was short-lived and Savea pushed away two tacklers and crashed over the line in the grasp of a third to send New Zealand into the break 29-13 up. But what can not be disputed is the contribution of these two fine exponents of disparate disciplines, Carter and McCaw, who sound like a firm of undertakers.

Louis Picamoles scored a first half try for France. Richie McCaw came in from the side and, when Nigel Owens awarded France a penalty, he clung on to the ball as Parra attempted to wrest it off him.

Savea completed his hat-trick – his fourth in total – on the hour mark as Carter released the winger, whose pace was too much for the ailing French defence.

For him, the nightmare is over at least.

But New Zealand, who have now beaten France nine times in a row and equalled Australia’s record of 12 consecutive World Cup wins, never looked like losing against a Philippe Saint-Andre side forced to deny they are in outright rebellion.

“They are very fast and every chance they have, they can score tries”. Not to be outdone, prop Joe Moody, a surprise replacement for Wyatt Crockett after only 28 minutes, went on a dab and slipped an offload for Kerr-Barlow’s second.

France: S Spedding; N Nakaitaci, A Dumoulin, W Fofana, B Dulin; F Michalak, M Parra; E Ben Arous, G Guirado, R Slimani; P Papé, Y Maestri; T Dusatoir, B Le Roux, L Picamoles.