Review Of The Rugby World Cup Final

With France as their quarter-final opponetnt the All Balcks, untested since the Tri-Nations, were about to take on the Six-Nations Champions. Whether the All Blacks' preparation had been ideal remained questionable, but it was widely thought France playing away from home wouldn't pose a serious threat.

The naming of the All Black side was eagerly awaited, as graham Henry had rarely selected his top team during the last year, with most interest focused on whether Dan Carter would play following his calf injury, and the ever contentious midfield selection.

With Carter declared fit, McAlistar and Muliaina were selected to start outside him, significant in that Muliaina was brought into centre at such a late stage of the tournament. More than anything it showed the coaching panel did not have confidence that the two specialist centre in their team - Conrad Smith and Isiah Toeava - were capable of doing the job. This decision became even more significant when the French named their team, electing to go with the big punters of the ball at fullback and first-five, clearly planning on kicking a lot of ball long before pressurising those who returned it. With no Mils Muliaina to threaten from the back, this tactic would prove worthwhile.

The match couldn't have started worse for the French with Serge Benson concussed in a tackle after only five minutes and having to be replaced.

A great first half by Luke McAlister saw him feature in one of the All Blacks' few highlights, when he created and finished the only try of the first half. This came just a minute after desperate French defence bundled Ali Williams into touch before he crossed the line. For McAlister it would be the case of hero to zero, as a harsh yellow card for obstuction five minutes into the second halfswung the momentum of the match away from they All Blacks, when the French capitalised on the opportunity and tied the match up at 13-all while he was in the bin.

Ali Williams was the star player for the All Blacks stealing five of the French throws to the lineout while managing to win everyone of their own throws. This lineout dominance translated to a 71% share of possesion and 63% of territory for the All Blacks' game. This time they won possession, but let themselves down by kicking the ball away nearly as much as the French kicked theirs away. This showed through in the statistics, where the All Blacks kicked 38 balls away to France's 41, and it was soon clear that Dan Carter wasn;t anywhere near his peak fitness or form. He eventually hobbled from the field after 56 minutes, at the same time as Byron Kelleher was replaced by Brendon Leonard.

In contrast to Daniel Carter, France's star first-five in recent years, Frederic Michelak, set up the match-winning try for the French with 11 minutes to go. He'd come off the bench just one minutes before and showed he still had the gas to make the crucial line-break and the composure to wait for his suppport on the inside to be a controversial forward pass to Yannick Jauzion to score and Jean-Baptiste Elisasalde kicked the crucial conversion, giving France the lead for the first time. The final quarter of the match was meant to be where Graham Henry's very difficult team preparation was meant to come in to its own. Instead it was shown to be fatally flawed.

As the All Blacks rolled on their substitutes, the team that already lacked cohesion began to look like 15 individuals trying to take on the tenacious French defence on their own. If one-off running really was the way the All Blacks wanted to win, all I can say is one name, Ma'a Nonu who would have really threatened the French.

The All Blacks' desperation and fatal disorganisation was summed up in the final minute when Luke McAlister had a wild attempt at a drop-kick from half way, without any concerted effort by the team to work their way into position for a match-winning field-goal. Too desparate, too little and much too late. The French had done it again. The All Blacks choked.