A nine-try master class from the All Blacks reinstated the reigning world champions as unbackable favourites to win the World Cup and made a mockery of hopeful speculation a player mutiny would produce a characteristic French boilover on Saturday.

France barely managed a whimper in the 62-13 thumping. Aside from a late first-half try to Toulouse No.8 Louis Picamoles, it was all All Blacks, all night, in the second quarter final in Cardiff. 

After a middling - by New Zealand standards - pool stage campaign, the All Blacks’ blew their own cover in spectacular fashion. A complete team performance ran rings around Les Bleus, who hung in for 40 minutes but were on their knees within 15 minutes of the start of the second half.

A hat trick to wrecking ball winger Julian “Big Bus” Savea was the icing on the Kiwis’ cake. His 39th minute rampage down the left wing, bumping off three defenders on his way to the line, will ensure the comparisons with Jonah Lomu continue well beyond this tournament. 

Savea passed Lomu’s try-scoring record with his efforts on Saturday. Encapsulating everything that is right with the All Blacks’ attitude, the 25-year-old said he was pleased with the win but was not getting carried away. 

“We need to keep putting up performances that are higher each level,” Savea said. 

Replacement halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow added a double in the second half, and Nehe Milner-Skudder, Brodie Retallick, Jerome Kaino and Kieran Read contributed their own five pointers.  

It was a spectacular righting of wrongs from eight years ago, in the same city, at the same stadium, in the same knockout fixture, when the All Blacks fell 20-18 to Les Bleus in the 2007 World Cup.