The Brazilians of rugby: All Blacks in record romp past France into World Cup semi-finals

Julian Savea scored a bulldozing hat-trick as New Zealand delivered a record-setting rugby masterclass on Saturday to rout France 62-13 and set up a World Cup semi-final against South Africa.

The Springboks earlier had a tougher time getting past Wales with captain Fourie du Preez touching down with five minutes left to snatch a 23-19 win at Twickenham.

The southern hemisphere powers are set to dominate the tournament with Australia favourites against Scotland in their quarter-final on Sunday when Argentina hope to score an upset against Ireland.

New Zealand went into their match at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium facing romantic hopes from their rivals that France could pull off a repeat of their upset last-eight win over the All Blacks in the same stadium in 2007.

But the defending champions dominated from the first kick and set a new record for points scored and the winning margin in a World Cup quarter-final.

They scored nine tries in all and France were so battered by the All Black tsunami that they did not manage a point in the second half. Louis Picamoles got their only try in the first half.

New Zealand captain Richie McCaw declared himself “very proud” of the performance. “We were very clinical,” he said highlighting how the All Blacks had piled on the pressure from the start.

McCaw cautioned the score was irrelevant, saying that in reality, all they had done was earn themselves another week in the tournament.