Kearney said after the game: "There were a couple of areas in our attack that I couldn't recognise" and the players were having trouble finding each other too.
Until early in the second half, the Kiwis had run the ball over the French tryline only once, with their other two tries coming from kicks. For long periods, there was a lack of structure and fluency with the ball in hand and they were also guilty of pushing the pass at inopportune times. It's a fine line, but will need to be right against England or Australia.
"[We probably need] to focus on pushing through the ruck and not forcing the ball," says Pritchard. "If we complete sets and punch it up the middle and hold on to the ball we will be right. There were times when we forced the ball and gave them possession. We just need to hold onto the ball as much as we can."
It wasn't even close to the kind of examination that will come later in this World Cup but yesterday's test provided some answers for Kearney.
He already had a good idea of most of his top line-up - but some players took a step forward yesterday. Many of the front liners may be rested for Saturday's game against Papua New Guinea but the Kiwis brains trust should now know almost all their top 17 for the quarter-final against Italy, Tonga or Scotland on November 16 (NZT).
"We've still got things to work on [and] we've still got some improvement," said Kearney after the match. "But there were some guys tonight who put their hands up, which was a real positive for us."
Krisnan Inu was unwanted by club and country as little as 18 months ago and would maybe have been left behind had Sean Kenny-Dowall been fit. But Inu is now the front runner to play alongside Dean Whare in the centres, ahead of Bryson Goodwin.
He looks more focused than perhaps at any time in his Kiwis career, has great aerial ability, is a strong defender and the best back-up kicker behind Shaun Johnson. He could still get more involved - he drifted out of the game at times yesterday - but tends to lift for the bigger matches. Goodwin had a strong season for Souths but international football is another step up.
Ben Matulino also showed enough in Avignon to be restored to the top prop rotation, alongside Jared Warea-Hargreaves, Jesse Bromwich and Sam Kasiano. Sam Moa is a strong runner but no more damaging than Matulino, who has a much greater arsenal of weapons.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who was probably not in the top four or five Kiwi wingers a year ago, is now the No1 choice. He has the best pure sidestep seen in a Kiwi jersey since Henry Paul, or before him James Leuluai, and is assured under the high ball. He looks a much more confident player after his first full NRL season and has also added some bulk and power, without losing any pace. The other flank spot will be a toss up between Jason Nightingale and Manu Vatuvei, with the Warriors veteran probably having the edge.
The defensive line was also stronger yesterday. France were often naive on attack, especially on the fifth tackle, but when they did mount pressure the Kiwi line had much more fortitude than against Samoa.
Some credit must go to France. The homegrown team were never going to match their World Cup heroics of 1972, when they defeated the Kiwis 20-9 in Marseille, or even the 12-12 draw at the same venue in 1975. But they showed plenty of pluck and verve, coming up against a team of NRL stars. They were lifted by an impressive, patriotic crowd and defended particularly well, even if their attacking was naive on many occasions.
"It was a courageous effort - we did really well to keep them from getting to our line on a number of occasions," said French coach Richard Agar. "There were a number of errors and indiscipline, not finishing kicks off right and our kick chase. Energy was a massive issue in the second half. They were rolling 70/80 metres in the second half, an early indication that we were hanging on by our fingernails."
Issac Luke reinforced his status as the Kiwis' most valuable player (bar none, not Simon Mannering, not Sonny Bill Williams, not Kieran Foran) and now needs to be wrapped in cotton wool before the knockout stages. Aside from his running game and assists (he set up three tries) a moment midway through the first half summed up his contribution.
In the space of a minute he ran from dummy half to force an error from a French kick, which resulted in lost territory, then produced a big tackle to jolt the ball free from a French prop. If Thomas Leuluai is not fit to play against PNG, Elijah Taylor should be given the dummy half role.
The Kiwis had yesterday and today off before reassembling on Monday to began preparations for the match against PNG in Leeds on Saturday (8am NZT).
