Rugby: Negatives outweigh positives in All Blacks win against France

Lima Sopoaga in action for the All Blacks against France. Photo / Photosport

Gregor Paul in Paris

A 20-point win and yet the negatives outweighed the positives for the All Blacks in Paris.

They can be content, not happy with how things worked. Content because for 40 minutes they put it all together. They played well. Really well.

Their attack was smooth and it flowed. They made chances and took them. They cut France open easily and regularly and set themselves up to run their opponent ragged in the second half.

It was all on a plate, the softening up done, the fun to be had with a good old honest second half romp.

Except that wasn't what happened. The second half turned out to be the least polished of the season. And that is being kind.

It was ugly. The All Blacks' discipline left the building and their basic skills deserted them.

The All Blacks disintegrated. They lost their shape and their composure. France found theirs and from seemingly having nothing to offer they were finding holes everywhere.

The only positive was that the All Blacks managed to hold on. They found a way to hang in there and win - which wasn't a given despite their massive halftime lead.

New Zealand's scrum wobbled and buckled. Their fabled lineout couldn't win its own ball. They were penalised almost every three rucks and the game was turned on its head.

New Zealand were a rabble. They were that bad. The few times they did have the ball - and it really was only a few - they either dropped it, threw it away, turned it over or did something needlessly illegal.

France's offloading began to happen, their confidence jumped and it appeared as if they had sucked it all directly from the All Blacks who couldn't do a thing right.

"I think we lost our discipline and as a result of that we allowed the momentum to shift and the French were good enough to put us under pressure," said All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.

"I was very happy with the way we fought our way through it and we scored enough points in the first half to get the job done.

"It is very difficult on sporting occasions for any team to hold the momentum for the duration of the contest. Once we lost it the French team got confidence and put us under pressure. We gave 11 penalties away in the second half and some of them were for pretty basic things like being offside."

* Gregor Paul travelled to Paris courtesy of Air New Zealand.