New Zealand vs France highlights: Watch the All Blacks annihilate the French in one-sided Rugby World Cup 2015 quarter-final
New Zealand ran in nine tries to record a 62-13 victory over France in Cardiff
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Your support makes all the difference.New Zealand re-wrote the record books after powering to an incredible 62-13 victory over France in the most one-sided Rugby World Cup quarter-final ever seen.
The pace was set from the very first tackle as the All Blacks shot out of the blocks, and French fly-half Frederic Michalak – the catalyst behind their 2007 victory over the Kiwis – was caught napping early when the second-row Brodie Retallick charged down an attempted clearance kick.
The lock swooped on the ball to score the opening try, while Michalak was forced off with injury, but no one expected what was to follow.
The talented wing Nehe Milner-Skudder danced his way down the right wing to score soon after, while his fellow flyer Julian Savea scored two tries of exceptional class as he bounced his way through tackler after tackler to score, although his first chance was handed to him after a brilliant break from Dan Carter.
Jerome Kaino galloped over to add a fifth before half-time, although by now France had crossed the whitewash through the No 8 Louis Picamoles while an extra eight points had come through the boots of Scott Spedding and Morgan Parra.
If France were hoping to draw inspiration from Picamoles’ score after the break, they failed. The Toulouse man was sent to the sin-bin for a cheap shot on Richie McCaw, and the All Blacks made them pay as Savea completed his hat-trick, while the scoring was completed by a Tawera Kerr-Barlow double and a final Kieran Read try.
Watch the match highlights below...
The final result represented the biggest ever winning margin in a World Cup quarter-final, surpassing the 28-point gap that South Africa claimed over Tonga in 1995. The All Blacks will now meet the Springboks in the semi-finals, but as for France, they say farewell to their head coach Philippe Saint-Andre and start anew under the former Toulouse boss Guy Noves.
By the looks of last night’s result, he already has a mountain to climb.
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