Rugby World Cup 2015: Shades of Lomu as Savea runs over French

A humble Julian Savea was quick to downplay any comparison to Jonah Lomu following his man-of-the-match performance against France.

The second of his three tries, in particular, was Lomu-esque when he bumped off three tacklers in succession on the way to the tryline.

But there's one asterisk beside both their names that Savea will be keen to erase next weekend - never scoring a try against the Springboks.

Following his hat-trick against Les Bleus this morning - his second at the Rugby World Cup - Savea has scored 38 tries to surpass his childhood hero Lomu by one.

The 25-year-old now sits only behind Doug Howlett (49) Christian Cullen (46) Joe Rokocoko (46) and Jeff Wilson (44) in the pantheon of top All Black try scorers

Savea has amassed his tally in just 39 tests, an incredible strike rate of 0.974.

After the match, the wing neatly sidestepped the comparison to the "legend" Lomu.

"The earliest memory I have of the World Cup was '95 watching him against England

"Being compared to him is an honour but no one can come close to him. He's my legend, he was a great player. All I can do is strive to be my best and be the best I can in my role in this team."

A year ago, Steve Hansen said the Savea was "probably better" than Lomu. That compliment seemed a long time ago as he lost form and fitness towards the end of the Super 15 season, to the point he was dropped from the All Blacks in order to improve his conditioning.

Savea good-naturedly conceded he put on weight "after enjoying my food too much" and thanked the All Black training staff for giving him the "kick up the butt" he needed.

"A couple of kilograms makes a difference. To be able to drop that and if you know about skinfolds, it's how much fat you carry and I was carrying a bit over."

But his performance in this morning's 62-13 massacre, booking a semi-final showdown with the Springboks, was a sharp reminder of his importance to the All Blacks' chances of winning the tournament. But "The Bus" wasn't just parked out on the wing. He went looking for work, carrying the ball strongly into heavy tackles and dishing out some big hits of his own - stopping his opposite Noa Nakaitaci dead his tracks on one dangerous run.

Attacking opponents physically with ball in hand and chasing kicks consistently helps Savea get involved in a game and gives him confidence.

"For me it's getting a lot of carries in, very strong carries...it's hard to say what happened tonight but all the boys played really well and it just rubbed off on everyone."