A month after bungling their opening game against France, New Zealand qualfied for the last eight of the World Cup with a clinical 73-0 destruction of Uruguay in Lyon.
The South Americans had the better of the initial exchanges and thought they had opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Manuel Ardao went over on the left.
But the video referees showed Anton Lienert-Brown had knocked him into touch.
Four minutes earlier, the same technology had helped Uruguay to escape. New Zealand scrum-half Cam Roigard slipped away from a ruck and dived over the line.
But Lucas Bianchi and Mateo Sanguinetti had combined to dislodge the ball. The video officials also denied New Zealand full-back Damian McKenzie. His effort was chalked off due to Richie Mo’unga's high hit on Santiago Arata in the build-up.
Start
The first legitimate try came rather simply. The ball from a scrum five metres out from the Uruguay posts found its way to Mo'unga who fed McKenizie who ran over the line.
Mo'unga added the conversion. Et voilà. Off they went. Mo'unga added the second try and Will Jordan the third after scintillating skill from McKenzie who chased his own kick from his own half and before it went into touch in the Uruguayan half flicked the ball back inside for his teammate to dash under the posts.
Roigard skipped over soon after to make it 26-0 and the stuttering was ancient history.
“It was quite a tough test match, especially in the first half," said New Zealand skipper Sam Cane. "We were made to really work for it."
The calm was commendable. Head coach Ian Foster had highlighted the potential dangers from a team that had lost to France by virtually the same score as New Zealand.
“In that first 20 minutes we showed some good composure and patience to not allow errors to creep in and we started getting some rewards," added Cane.
Slight understatement. Fletcher Ewell, Leicester Fainga’anuku and Mckenzie went over in quick succession after the restart. Jordan bagged his brace finishing off a slick training ground exercise and after Mo'unga's substitution, McKenzie took over kicking duties with no little dash: one from a tight angle on the right after Jordan's second try and another from a tight angle on the left after Fainga’anuku's second score.
Depth
Replacement prop Tamaiti Williams crashed over for the 10th try of the encounter and Fainga’anuku racked up his third in the closing stages.
Just to display their depth, Beauden Barrett kicked the conversions for the last two tries - to keep his eye in as Foster explained later.
"I think we've responded well from from the first game," Foster added.
"I think we took lots of lessons out of that and and I think we've dealt with each challenge that we've had. I believe we're growing our game to a point that we're ready to go into this quarter-final really well prepared. And clearly whoever we play it is going to be a massive game. But that's what quarter finals should be like."
New Zealand will take on South Africa, Ireland or Scotland in the last eight. They will discover their opponents after Ireland face Scotland at the Stade de France on Saturday night.
