Wow … just wow.
That was an all-time great performance from the All Blacks. It was so good it feels surreal - the stuff of myth and legend - heavenly rugby brought to us by the attacking gods Nonu, Savea and Carter.
I know you’re reading that thinking “settle down, mate". I’m just not sure I can. It was beautiful and what’s more, it was cathartic. What better way to end the tiresome talk about 1999 and 2007 than to destroy the French?
In four or eight or sixteen years’ time, we might now head into a knock-out game against France talking about the All Blacks’ great potential, not the chances of heading home early.
I’d rate it right up there with the 1996 demolition of Australia in the rain at Athletic Park. That’s the performance I’ve always rated as the best I’d ever seen, by a team of legends. To even draw a comparison shows just how good the All Blacks were against France this morning.
It takes something special to get a bunch of cynical journalists out of their chairs and high-fiving. That’s what happened in the 3News office, as try after brilliant try was run in at the Millennium Stadium. We gasped, we yelled and we enjoyed every last second of it.
Forget the knit-picking usually associated with All Blacks wins. It was so good, we sat, and jumped to our feet, in awe of what was unfolding.
There were props offloading like backs, backs running like steam-trains and French defenders flattened down the tram-lines as New Zealand used the full width of the field. They were every bit as clinical this morning as they were sloppy in pool play.
No longer shackled by Steve Hansen’s pool play limitations, Carter varied the attack brilliantly. He used every runner, on every angle. There were bombs, wipers kicks, chips behind the line, and of course what everyone’s been waiting for, the greatest first five ever taking on the line in trademark fashion. He put the foot down, he fended, he offloaded and tries were scored.
After Nehe Milner-Skudder set the benchmark early, fellow wing Julian Savea barged into it, ran around it and trampled over it. I’ve always hated the comparisons to Jonah but this was every bit as phenomenal as Lomu in '95.
It just goes to show that a winger’s form is only as good as the opportunities his team allows him. Savea was never out of form, just waiting to be unleashed. This morning’s hat-trick means he has eight tries in this World Cup - that equals Lomu’s record (shared with Bryan Habana) for the most in one tournament.
Jerome Kaino has been copping almost as much heat this tournament for his form. Today he was a beast. He charged at the defence in the relentless fashion we’ve come to expect. His shoulders will be imprinted on the bodies of many French runners, as he battered them in defence. McCaw was right there with him, while Kieran Read’s ball playing ability put fellow forwards into space.
The forwards dominated the lineouts, competed with gusto at the play-the-ball, exerted pressure at scrum time and then ran and passed like backs. Joe Moody’s offload was something else.
I’ll never forget the sight of Brodie Retallick lumbering over for the first try after charging down a kick. The words of great Scottish commentator Bill McLaren came to mind immediately. He once described Ian Jones as running like a dilapidated giraffe. Like a giraffe, and all his team mates today, Retallick towered over any foe.
Ma’a Nonu used his full arsenal, Aaron Smith’s delivery was crisp and provided space for his outsides, Ben Smith threw himself at high bombs and Conrad Smith was again the glue that bound.
Then there was the defence. Bar one try, New Zealand refused to drop standards when they had the game in the bag. This was a team proving a point.
Beautiful. Clinical. Relentless. Watch out Springboks.
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