Gregor Paul: All Blacks machine make stunning statement

Dan Carter offloads to set up Julian Savea's try against France. Photo / Brett Phibbs

NEW ZEALAND 62
FRANCE 13

It's the French that have the thing for starting revolutions but they were the victims of one this morning. Blown off the park by an All Black team that mixed brutality with beauty.

The rest of the world will be quite terrified by how good the All Blacks were. They obliterated France. It was stunning rugby. The best this side have produced in an age and they made it look so natural when there was nothing natural about it at all.

The skill level was off the scale. Some of the offloading from the props was better than most teams can manage from their first-five.

The handling and awareness were in a different league to anything any other team has produced so far. France weren't that bad - but they were made to look awful. This was a quarterfinal for goodness sake - they came to play and they tried. They really tried but what could they do against this machine that had so many features and an endless capacity to produce?

Supposedly Millennium Stadium would be full of ghosts for the All Blacks. It was France who were chasing them. All night.

There are plenty of teams at this tournament with big physical men willing to smash all and sunder. There has only been one so far that can do all that guts and glory bit and yet still produce the most sublime skills.

There's no guarantee the All Blacks will win this thing by any means, but if they play like this next week they will be hard to beat. Really hard to beat. No one will fancy taking them on now that they have stopped bluffing and actually played without any other thought than to pull their opponent by the peg and rip it clean it out the ground.

If everyone was warming to Australia as potential champions, they will now have to pause for a moment. It might be the other mob from the Antipodes who are the better bet.

The ones in black who have dominated world rugby for five years and not five minutes.

This was a statement-making performance from the All Blacks. They want to make history at this World Cup. They want to do what no side has done and win back-to-back titles.

They'd also quite like to send off in style a few warriors who have done a bit in the jersey.

They have had a plan all along as to how they would do that. Why was anyone ever worried? The All Blacks, as they have quietly been suggesting all along, unleashed the game they have been keeping behind a training ground fence since they arrived in England.

It was all a whirr and a blur. Lethal, ruthless rugby that had the job finished after half an hour. The simple things were important. They always matter and the All Blacks ticked the big boxes.

They made their tackles and swarmed the French. Their linespeed was exceptional. They were quite brilliant at kickoffs, winning them all in the first half. The cleanout went their way - smart, fast and done with minimal numbers and the lineout was dominant.

But what elevated this performance was the skill execution. That's been the key missing ingredient in the pool rounds and suddenly, it was all on.

Dan Carter, so relaxed, so confident and so good, provided endless deft touches - none more thrilling than the back of the hand offload to set up Julian Savea for his first try.

Nehe Milner-Skudder's footwork allowed him to get on the scoresheet and Ben Smith pulled off one of the great catches on a kick chase to set up Savea for his second.

And as for Savea himself. He was back to his rampaging best. Just frightening he was.

Statement made. The All Blacks are here to win.

- By Gregor Paul in Cardiff