It was vintage Lomu - aggressive, unstoppable running that saw defenders bounced away cartoon-style. Except it wasn't vintage Lomu. It was Savea, and Savea very much in his prime and back to his best.
It was Savea proving he can do anything Lomu could. Only two wings in world rugby have ever been able to consistently score tries like that, running straight over defenders and keeping their feet: Lomu and Savea.
There have been plenty of big, powerful wings - huge men such as Alesana Tuilagi, Nemani Nadolo and George North - but they haven't regularly scored tries running through brick walls like that.
Big wings may be all the rage but Lomu and Savea are the two who have made their size count the most and the latter has done it in such a way it is impossible not to provoke comparisons with the former.
Savea freely admits to having followed Lomu's career and hair cuts religiously growing up and has a near-identical running style to his idol. He carries the ball much like Lomu did, hits contact with the same venom and irresistible force. He's even had problems getting and keeping himself conditioned, much like Lomu did in the early part of his career.
Asked if it was lack of exercise or too much food that saw him lose his way in the middle of the season, Savea said: "Probably a bit of both but probably my bigger problem was nutrition. I like my food and in the offseason I enjoyed my food as well which tripped me up a bit. I knew I needed it [a kick up the backside]. The coaches knew, the trainer knew and I knew. We were all on the same page and they trained us really hard and I was pretty happy."
He spent the first four weeks of the international season under the eye of All Blacks conditioning coach Nic Gill, who ran Savea like he had never been run before. The benefits came in Cardiff when, for the first time this year, Savea had the confidence in his conditioning to take opponents on physically and dominate them.
Read more: 'The Bus' Savea bumps off comparison to hero Lomu
He's at his best when he looks for contact first to blast through it as a means of creating space. When he did that to such deadly effect during the Rugby Championship last year, it prompted All Blacks coach Steve Hansen to say he thought Savea was probably a better player than Lomu.
It was Hansen's view that Savea had more parts to his game.
Savea is a deadly runner. He's also a superb defender, works hard to get involved in the midfield, helps the forwards out with a bit of pick-and-go and is a competent operator under the high ball.
As soon as he said it, New Zealanders burst into debate over the merits of Lomu and Savea and the vote is about split. There are so many similarities it's hard to determine a differentiating factor that would clarify the picture.
Perhaps, then, this weekend's semifinal against the Springboks is the time and place for Savea to stake his claim.
Lomu played South Africa 12 times and never scored. Everyone was convinced he would grab a bucket-load at the 1995 World Cup final - coming into that game on the back of crushing England as he had - but he was shut down by James Small and every other Springboks opponent after kept him off the scoresheet.
Savea has had five games against South Africa with no joy.
A try on Sunday morning would go a long way.
The Springboks remain the toughest challenge in the game. They shut down space better than anyone, defend with a ferocity few can match and scramble well.
What's more, South Africa know the threat Savea poses and will have a plan in mind to shut him down.
- Gregor Paul in London
