The All Blacks have made it through to the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup and killed any hope of a repeat of the defeat at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
They have beaten France in Cardiff, a result that wasn’t a lucky incident according to All Black Captain Richie McCaw, “The intensity was always going to go up a notch, we talked about all week and applied pressure at the right end of the field.”
Outstanding performances from Brodie Retallick, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Jerome Kaino and Julian Savea, who scored a hat trick, saw the All Blacks run in a total of nine tries to France’s one – testament to Coach Steve Hansen’s philosophy on mental fortitude which he shared in his post-match interview, “Either turn up and play or go home is enough to get you to where you are meant to be mentally then it's about backing your talent.”
The forwards dominated up front and according to McCaw, they are humbled at receiving another opportunity to go through to the next round, “We were pretty clinical in terms of our own half and proud of that and happy with the performance but all its done is earned us another week and that's exciting but we won't certainly get ahead of ourselves”
The reigning champions now turn their sights to South Africa.