KEY POINTS:
Maybe it was just one game but, suddenly, I thought France looked like an old team. Yes, Argentina did well - but France were even worse than Argentina were good, if you know what I mean.
They looked tired or maybe like a team that has been together
too long and just expects things to happen.
We saw it at the breakdown more than anything. Argentina arrived there in numbers, full of energy, trying to make things happen. France arrived there in small parcels and looked as if they thought something would happen just by them turning up at the rucks and mauls.
I say to junior teams and players I am involved with: "Never hit a ruck with the palms of your hands."
The French did - and they paid the price.
It was a bit of a mirror image to what everyone expected. We all thought Argentina would be good in the scrums; the set pieces; but the French did better there.
But not in the breakdown. That's where the Pumas won it - they were quicker there and did more when they got there.
The other unexpected thing for me was just how poor the French were on attack. They seemed lethargic and out of sorts.
Their fullback, Cedric Heymans, was a perfect example. I am not sure why they selected him there ahead of Clement Poitrenaud.
When the ball is kicked through to you at fullback, you have three options - pass left, pass right or kick. He nearly always took the kick option, whereas the Argentinians, even if they got into some scrapes, often ran it back.
Heymans often looked like he was thinking: 'Now, what do I do next?' The Pumas knew Heymans was not going to counterattack and, really, none of the French backs looked dangerous, apart from winger Aurelien Rougerie and Heymans, late in the game - and then he only got going when it was all too late.
Even first five-eighths Freddie Michalak looked poor - he missed a kick at goal and then his whole game fell apart.
It's difficult to say, after just one match, that the French are gone-burgers because we all know a totally different team can turn up next time.
But they just didn't seem to have any of that natural flair of theirs. Some say coach Bernard Laporte has knocked it out of them.
I don't know that you can coach flair out of someone but it certainly wasn't there yesterday when they needed it. They looked like cart horses half the time.
This means the Irish have developed real importance in this group and, from the All Black perspective, makes the identity of their quarter-finalist in Cardiff a real guessing game.
They won't be worried, however, if it is this French team which turns up.
