Rugby World Cup: All Blacks beat France to reach quarterfinals

The All Blacks steadied the nerves of a nation with an emphatic 37-17 win over France at Eden Park on Saturday to secure a place in the rugby World Cup quarterfinals as Pool A winners with a game to spare.

Haunted by the memories of dramatic and premature exits at the hands of the French in the 1999 and 2007 tournaments, the host nation had been jittery all week at the prospect of facing the Europeans.

Clinical finishing in tries from Adam Thomson, Cory Jane, Sonny Bill Williams and two from fullback Israel Dagg as well as 12 points from the boot of Dan Carter helped them to bury the ghosts of past World Cup failures, for the group stage at least.

The New Zealand pack, led by Richie McCaw in his 100th test with lock Sam Whitelock also outstanding, overpowered the French in the scrum for the first hour and harried them in the loose to allow their backs the perfect platform to display their skills.

"It was a good performance, the guys scored some great tries and it was good to have a game of that intensity at this stage of the competition," said coach Graham Henry.

"Add to that Richie's 100th cap, which was very special and had never happened before, and there was a great crowd which helped the occasion."

"We had to absorb a fair bit early on and I am proud the boys did that and when we got our opportunities we put points on the board," said McCaw, who afterwards received his 100th cap from former All Black Jock Hobbs.

The French, who play Tonga in their final pool match on Oct. 1, are still likely to finish second in the group and reach the last eight.

"We suffered in the scrum and it was a tough psychological blow for us when they scored," said coach Marc Lievremont.

"I was hoping we could really hold up against them in the first half but that wasn't the case. 

"We were intense and dynamic, however we suffered from a number of very basic errors in defence."

For the first nine minutes, it had looked like Eden Park might experience a shock to rank alongside Ireland's victory over Australia last Saturday as the French took the early initiative and camped in the New Zealand half.

A rampaging charge from centre Ma'a Nonu in the 10th minute turned the tide with number eight Thomson reaping the benefits to cross in the corner and 11 minutes later the All Blacks were 19-0 up.

Jane scored the second try when he came off his wing to take a neat inside pop pass from scrumhalf Piri Weepu and dash 40 metres through the cover defence to touch down.

Four minutes later, it was the turn of flyhalf Carter to make the line break and he drew the final defender to allow Dagg to touch down unopposed.        Rattled after the three-try blitz, France managed to regroup and held their own for the remainder of the half with scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili finally getting some points on the board with a penalty just before the break.        The All Blacks came out firing after halftime, however, and within a minute another Carter line break got them within five metres of the French line before Dagg danced his way through the defence to secure the bonus point with his second try.

Carter, who had converted three of the four tries, added a penalty five minutes later to extend the lead to 29-3 but gifted France their first try when his long mispass was intercepted by centre Maxime Mermoz on 54 minutes.

New Zealand's golden boy made amends 10 minutes later with a drop goal to extend the lead to 32-10 and effectively end any French hopes of a comeback.

France restored some pride with a try from Morgan Parra's replacement at flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc after a series of five-metre scrums four minutes from time as their pack briefly gained the upper hand.

The All Blacks hammered home their superiority immediately, however, with Williams, on as a replacement for Jane, going over in the corner after a superb sweeping move.

"I'm just stoked to have put in a big performance with the boys,; said All Blacks captain McCaw. "It's a special memory I'll have."