Richie McCaw says New Zealand are not getting ahead of themselves despite destroying France 62-13 to reach the Rugby World Cup semi-finals on Saturday.

The All Blacks produced the most dominant performance in the history of the competition's knockout stages to book a meeting with South Africa in the last four next weekend. 

Ominously for the Springboks, who will have watched the devastation experienced by Les Bleus at the Millennium Stadium with a mixture of admiration and trepidation, skipper McCaw insisted the holders have no intention of taking a backward step as they seek to become the first team to retain the Webb Ellis Cup. 

"We're happy with the performance but all it's done has earned us another week," he said.

"We're not going to get ahead of ourselves."

New Zealand's rampant showing in Cardiff, crowned by a stunning hat-trick of Julian Savea tries, went some way to answering the critics who have pointed to an easy passage from Pool C, where Argentina were the 2011 winners' only serious opponents.

"The intensity was always going to go up a notch," McCaw said.

"I'm very pleased with the guys. We were particularly clinical and I'm proud of that."

Much was made before the game of the fact New Zealand were returning the scene of their shock loss to France in the 2007 World Cup, a surprise result that took place at the same venue and at the same stage of that year's tournament. 

The captain though claimed the prospect of banishing those unhappy memories had little influence on Steve Hansen's squad. 

"We never really thought much about it," he said.

"We went up a level. We prepared ourselves this week. It's another step but we haven't done anything yet."