New Zealand ease into World Cup quarter-final
New Zealand cantered to the bonus-point victory they needed to secure qualification for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with an 11-try 73-0 thrashing of Uruguay on Thursday. Full-back Damian McKenzie starred for the All Blacks with a try in each half, two conversions and a brilliant one-handed offload for Will Jordan to score the first of his two tries. Richie Mo'unga, who also kicked five conversions, Cam Roigard, Fletcher Newell, Leicester Fainga'anuku with a hat-trick and Tamaiti Williams also crossed in the whitewash. "I think it was a really enjoyable game, pretty freeflowing. It took us a long time to break down Uruguay to be honest, they defended so well," said man-of-the-match McKenzie. "But we managed to put some points on the board so I'm so proud of the lads. "We've got to where we want to be, now we want to get better and move on to the quarters. I'm really excited for the week to come." On a night of celebration, veteran lock Sam Whitelock set a new record of 23 World Cup appearances, surpassing the marks of compatriot Richie McCaw and England's Jason Leonard. However, they did lose prop Tyrel Lomax to a recurrence of significant knee injury early on. New Zealand must now wait and see if they win Pool A or finish second, depending on whether Italy can topple France on Friday night. But following similar thrashings of Namibia and Italy, this took their tally to 36 tries and 240 points in their last three matches since their opening pool defeat to France. For Uruguay head coach Esteban Meneses it has been a positive World Cup with oe win and two competitive defeats before this blow-out. "New Zealand are the best team in the world. We played well in the first 20 minutes," Meneses said. "They are a very tough team in the contact. I am very proud of Uruguay in the World Cup." (AFP)