Their afterburners on and defensive problems solved, the All Blacks powered into the Rugby World Cup semifinals on Saturday.
New Zealand won a special victory against its fiercest rival South Africa, 29-9, making up, in part, for losses in 1999 and the 1995 final.
It was South Africa's first exit at the quarterfinal stage and it came after a mistake-ridden performance including a massive 34 missed tackles.
"They were very physical," said Springbok captain Corne Krige. "You've got to look at the pressure they put on us. We did make a lot of mistakes, but you have to look at the pressure and the massive hits."
The game also farewelled South Africa's most capped player, Joost van der Westhuizen, who trudged off late in the match having been outplayed by opponent Justin Marshall.
New Zealand, which will meet the winner of the Australia versus Scotland match later Saturday, scored three tries to none and center Leon MacDonald finished with 16 points from a try, a conversion and three penalties. Derick Hougaard scored South Africa's points with three penalties.
"We really wanted to carry on with a good performance," said New Zealand captain Reuben Thorne. "We worked hard tonight and deserved the win."
South Africa, having lost its past six tests against the All Blacks, needed to show the same commitment and tenacity displayed against England earlier in the tournament but struggled to get into the game.
New Zealand was given a fright by Wales in its final pool match, where the All Blacks midfield defense was shown to be vulnerable.
The Springboks, though, were unable to put any pressure on their opponents in the opening half hour, let down miserably by Hougaard's poor open play kicking and several basic mistakes.
There have never been doubts about New Zealand's attacking potency and, in the perfect conditions of an indoor dome, the most exciting backline in the game let loose. The All Blacks targeted Springbok outside center Jorrie Muller, running around him at will.
Marshall was the first to threaten, taking a ball from hooker Keven Mealamu and streaming 70 meters through the midfield on six minutes. Marshall got a pass outside to winger Joe Rokocoko but the Springboks managed to survive, as they did three minutes later when Rokocoko beat Muller for pace but let down wing partner Doug Howlett with a poor pass.
The Springbok defense was a shambles and center De Wet Barry, one of biggest hitters in the game, tried to impose himself on the match by bringing Aaron Mauger down. MacDonald opened the scoring on 12 minutes with a penalty, canceled out by Hougaard two minutes later, before New Zealand managed to make its dominance count with a try.
Marshall threw a poor ball behind Carlos Spencer in the center of the ground and the flyhalf, spinning away from lumbering flanker Danie Rossouw, found wide open space.
Spencer went 40m before MacDonald loomed outside and ran the ball across the line.
Much has been made of South Africa's discipline problems in the past year and on this stage, against this opponent, it needed to be on best behavior. There can be no excuse, then, for a moment of madness from Krige.
Having won a penalty within range of the goal posts, Krige stamped on a New Zealand leg and English referee Tony Spreadbury reversed the call.
A late penalty from Hougaard left the All Blacks leading 13-6 at the break and they really should have made more of their 65 percent possession.
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