Mealamu crashes over. (Getty Images)

By Neal Collins

It would be nice to report that South Africa went home with their heads held high.

Nice...but dishonest.

The truth is, they came up against a below-par New Zealand in the first of the World Cup quarter-finals in Melbourne and made nothing of it.

The All Blacks literally threw away try after try and kicker Leon McDonald missed chance after chance...but the once-dominant Boks just sat back and let them try again.

The happiest coach after this game might be England's Clive Woodward.

Clearly these All Blacks, already pushed hard by Wales, aren't quite as good as they think they are.

In Jerry Collins they have a wonderful No 8 - his first-half hit on Thinus Delport shook the Telstra Dome - and Carlos Spencer is weaving his old magic at fly-half.

But they needed 34 missed tackles from the Boks to get through this one.

What were the South Africans up to?

At one stage we saw the worst of them when captain Corne Krige, playing his last international game, tried to maim an All Black in a ruck.

Three weeks ago he was telling me "I've changed my attitude". It didn't look like it.

Joost van der Westhuizen wandered off after 38 tries and 89 caps with a few minutes left to play, ending another international career with a raspberry.

It was horrible to watch.

Where was the passion they showed against England?

The precision they produced against Samoa?

Will Rudi Straeuli still have a job this time next week?

New Zealand go on to the semi-final, as they have every four years since 1987, without a gleam of invincibility.

South Africa go home with their tails between their legs, Breyton Paulse, their best runner left in the stands and their best players heading for retirement.

An early exchange of penalties from MacDonald and Derick Hougaard was soon followed by the All Blacks' first moment of magic.

After 16 minutes, Spencer picked up a routine Justin Marshall pass and jinked his way through the defensive line.

With support all around him, Spencer tossed it into the welcoming arms of MacDonald, who converted his own try.

And soon the clueless South Africans had lost it, with Krige trying - twice - to illegally halt Joe Rokocoko.

Still, after 30 minutes South Africa were only 10-3 down after two missed drop goal attempts from Spencer.

A MacDonald penalty stretched the lead but still the dominant All Blacks couldn't produce the second try and a late Hougaard penalty made it 13-6 at the break.

Aaron Mauger's drop goal, the first of his career, made it 16-6 but the Boks were starting to spend time in the All Black half and Hougaard replied with a penalty which they might have run.

The All Blacks appeared to wake up at that point.

Marshall dropped one right on the line and the Boks were forced in to desperate defence.

But something had to give and when stocky hooker Keven Mealamu broke from the maul, nobody could stop him ploughing his way over - the conversion was missed by MacDonald and it was 21-9 after an hour.

Now it was South African desperation against Kiwi defence.

Rokocoko and Marshall were throwing Boks in to touch and the outclassed Willemse simply threw possession away.

Then replacement Schalk Burger was caught with his hands in the scrum, MacDonald accepted the gift-swrapped three points and at 24-9 with 12 minutes left, flight reservations back to Johannesburg International were being confirmed.

Rokocoko added his obligatory try from a delightful through-the-legs Spencer pass, MacDonald missed the kick and it was 29-9.