KEY POINTS:
October 6, 2007 - or October 7 if you were watching in New Zealand.
The day the All Blacks' latest charge to regain the World Cup came to a juddering halt in Cardiff.
It was the referee's fault, of course, what with the forward pass for the crucial
French try going undetected.
Just like the 1995 final loss in South Africa was the fault of a poisonous waitress called Suzie.
But should we delve a little deeper than a kneejerk blame and shame reaction?
David Harris thinks so.
The 47-year-old AUT management lecturer has spent four years studying the landscape of New Zealand rugby for his doctorate of business and administration in governance from Massey University.
His thesis, awaiting signoff from three academics, was sparked by the question: Why haven't the All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup since 1987?
The subject was inspired by his presence in the crowd for the All Blacks' defeat in the 2003 semifinals.
"I couldn't understand why the best team in the world didn't win it," he says.
Harris focused on changes to the sport in New Zealand between 1985 and 2005.
He interviewed 16 prominent rugby people in each of those years, including members of the New Zealand Rugby Union board, All Blacks, referees and provincial union reps.
All remain anonymous.
His draft report picks out 20 "institutions" - beliefs or ideas that may be taken for granted during the NZRU's decision-making process.
They include the decreased importance of club rugby, the increased power of the national coach and the overriding obsession with winning the William Webb Ellis trophy.
"This research suggests there might be more consideration given to some of the things that are taken for granted in the environment of New Zealand rugby," says Harris.
"Indeed the results suggest that certain understandings have contributed to a failure to develop All Blacks capable of winning the Rugby World Cup."
Harris believes reconditioning and rotation are little help.
"We should be putting the best team out every game and our focus should be on winning every game, not just three games in four years, the quarter final, semifinal and final."
He says one of the most worrying aspects of the World Cup obsession is the way it disconnects the "passion of the traditional rugby communities".
And while identifying and grooming potential All Blacks from an early age and focusing on Super 14 rather than provincial rugby may have little short-term impact, there could be a knock-on effect in the medium to long-term.
Not surprisingly, most of his findings are underpinned by the shift to professionalism and the game's transformation to a business.
His report quotes a member of the 2005 NZRU management team explaining the commercial realities.
"We manage brands, we do research and development, we manage people, we run budgets, we have a treasury policy, we have a reserves policy.
"I mean it's a business in any other sense of the word, except our business ... we're not making biscuits, we produce ... rugby players."
Harris says his findings should not be viewed in isolation and acknowledges the NZRU has to deal with many other factors, including financial and international issues.
Few could argue with the depth of his research, but he accepts some may take issue with his background.
The married father-of-three is a Briton who moved here in 2001. At the time he wasn't a died-in-the-wool rugby obsessive.
"When I moved over from the UK I became really interested in rugby and its importance in New Zealand. You understand the importance of rugby when you come here."
Now an All Blacks fan, Harris says he switched allegiance at half-time during the first England v New Zealand clash after his move because he didn't want his young, rugby-mad son growing up with mixed messages in his new homeland.
And he thinks his outsider status and ability to look at it with less passion may make it easier for him to analyse the problems facing the All Blacks.
"Being able to take a look from the outside," he says, "has enabled me to see the taken-for-granted things that are not as clearly visible to people that have grown up in New Zealand."
