World media react: All Blacks have one hand on World Cup

WOW! That was the collective response of the international media who now say the rampaging All Blacks have one hand on the Rugby World Cup trophy.

After accusing the All Blacks of losing their mojo during a series of indifferent pool match performances, the nine-try 62-13 quarter final victory over France had the English and global media emptying the thesaurus of superlatives.

Here's what the leading media outlets had to say about New Zealand's pulsating win at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium:

Robert Kitson in the Guardian:
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.

Dan Carter is supposed to be past it but his arcing run, change of pace and perfectly timed flip out of the back door to Julian Savea six minutes later recalled his heyday in Wellington against the Lions in 2005.

All the French could do 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.

Matt Lawton in the London Daily Mail:
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. It is rugby from a different world. Rugby on a different level. Rugby played with more speed, flair and ferocity than any other side can manage.
No wonder the defending world champions are now reflecting on a 12th successive World Cup win. As well as power and pace in their pack they have finishers like Nehe Milner-Skudder and Julian Savea, who in scoring one try bore more than a passing resemblance to Jonah Lomu at his unstoppable best. He scored a hat-trick of tries here to make himself the leader for the tournament.

Add to that what felt like the return of Dan Carter last night - one pass to Savea was just outrageous - and Steve Hansen's side seem to be coming into form right on cue.

My word this lot are good.

Rob Bartlett on ESPNscrum.com:

We expected a New Zealand bloodbath against Namibia, Tonga and maybe Georgia in the pool stages but certainly not against France in this World Cup quarterfinal.

Finally, the All Blacks have shown why they are favoured to become the first nation to retain the Webb Ellis trophy. This wasn't just a destruction, it was a brutal obliteration of Philippe Saint-Andre's side in front of a shellshocked Millennium Stadium.

After Picamoles was binned for a closed fist on McCaw, the floodgates well and truly opened. Savea notched another World Cup hat trick while replacement Kerr-Barlow made the French backline look like a bunch of Ken Barlow's.

2007 is but a distant memory for both of these sides and Steve Hansen will no doubt be licking his lips at this performance.

Rick Broadbent in the Times of London:
All that talk about France having some sort of psychological hold over the All Blacks was dismissed as historical tosh in Cardiff tonight.

Where to start? Nine tries executed at exhilarating pace; Dan Carter playing with a sort of sublime dexterity that made a mockery of recent muttering about his form; Julian Savea scoring a hat-trick to make it 38 tries in 39 internationals, wrapped up into a team performance that should make World Cup survivors feel very afraid. South Africa's prize for breaking Welsh hearts earlier in the day is a double-edged one.

It was the biggest World Cup quarter-final win ever and, more significantly, evidence that for all South Africa's renewed resilience and Australia's rise under Michael Cheika, this is the team to beat. On a night of rare skill and entertainment, at a stage when games are supposed to get tight, cagey and one-dimensional, New Zealand looked like the team of 2015.

The teams of 2007 have been consigned to ancient history. If anybody can beat a side that are bubbling up to top form at the right time, they will be deserved and increasingly unlikely champions.

Paul Cully in the Sydney Morning Herald:
So now we know where the All Blacks have been in this tournament. Quietly building behind closed doors, happy to let the others take the praise. Not any longer. Their dismantling of a shell-shocked France has changed the conversation in this World Cup. Now the talk will be just who is capable of stopping them.

There was a lot of talk of Cardiff ghosts, but it is hard for men like Jerome Kaino, Ma'a Nonu and Julian Savea to be spooked when they played no part in the infamous loss in the first place.

What then, of the chances of someone stopping the All Blacks now they have switched into business mode? There is always hope. But someone will have to stop Julian Savea, and before that they will have to stop Ma'a Nonu and Jerome Kaino.

Chris Dutton in the Sydney Morning Herald:
That was a training run for the All Blacks. And that's no disrespect to their intensity or France, it just shows that New Zealand are the kings of this tournament and the team to beat. They got through a few nervy moments early on and then changed gears and Les Bleus couldn't keep up. They were simply outstanding. Masterclass.

There will be a few nervous teams after seeing New Zealand's performance. Prior to the match, the talk was that they had fallen off their perch and they weren't anywhere near their best after an easy run through the pool stages. But they showed tonight they are definitely the team to beat and favourites to make it back to back World Cups. Easily the best performance of any team at the tournament so far. And you get the feeling they still have a few more levels to go up.

Iain Spragg in the London Daily Telegraph:
Make no mistake, any sense of triumphalism in the South Africa camp after their win over Wales earlier today will have dissipated dramatically if Heyneke Meyer's side watched the game in Cardiff this evening.

The intensity and the handling skills displayed by the Kiwis was incredible and they will be red hot favourites to beat the Springboks next weekend in the last four. The much vaunted French pack couldn't get a foothold in the game because of New Zealand's own physicality and clever tactics and they were rampant out wide.

People were questioning whether the champions were under cooked before facing the French, the hope for the surviving teams in the tournament is now that they've peaked too early.

That was absolutely ruthless and beautiful at the same time by the champions and Les Bleus just had no answer.

Ben Dirs on BBC.com:
New Zealand rarely clicked despite topping Pool C, but four competitive matches appear to have been exactly what they needed in terms of sharpening them up for the knockout stages.

South Africa, who were shocked by Japan in their opening World Cup game, have mounted a stirring recovery and are battle-hardened after a bruising quarter-final victory over Wales. But the All Blacks appear to have too much variety for the one-dimensional Springboks, who have beaten New Zealand only twice in their last 12 meetings.

While the French simply did not have the requisite talent or a game-plan to trouble New Zealand, the performance of Steve Hansen's side was undoubtedly the most impressive of the tournament so far.

Dan Lucas in the Guardian:
That was terrifying. As good as I've seen from the All Blacks in a long time.

I think we can put the notion of a French World Cup hoodoo over the All Blacks to bed.

That was sensational stuff: they started at a tempo unlike any we've seen in this World Cup - think of the Australian move for their second try against England sustained over 40 minutes. France were blown away, run down, torn apart and from then on it was far, far too easy for New Zealand.