KEY POINTS:
Time to move on. The All Blacks needed to get out of Marseille after a stay of 12 days.
There was no muttering, no public grizzling but you sensed as much as Marseille had been a fine host, the All Blacks wanted to shift, they were getting a
little stir-crazy.
Their hotel was very smart, right on the Med, but that comfort would have been balanced by the routine daily treks they made to the same dining areas, training ground and gym, even the same room, unless the Wags arrived.
Management and coaching staff worked hard to vary the All Blacks' daily diet with fun activities such as this week's triathlon but you suspect they were also glad to up sticks and move to Lyon.
The All Blacks suffered in 2003 as much from being away from the epicentre of that tournament as always returning to the same digs in Melbourne. The 'here we go again' look was not far away from the squad each time they relocated to the great southern city.
Like Marseille, there was much to admire in Melbourne but athletes on a two month odyssey need to be kept sharp, kept in tune and one way is to keep moving.
If they stay in one place too long, they start to lose their snap, they can start to get annoyed by little issues which would not normally bother them. And they can only do so much training.
Sympathy also had to go to the alternate All Black XV who played Portugal last night. They hit Lyon only a couple of days before the game and did not get the week the top side had to adapt in Marseille before they thrashed Italy.
Isaia Toeava, Brendon Leonard, Sione Lauaki and Greg Somerville did not tour Europe last year so this was a new venue for them, while another five did not play in last season's Lyon test. That group would have all been anxious to sniff the atmosphere early in Lyon.
With such a weak list of opponents in their pool, the toughest part of the All Blacks' programme is keeping them motivated for another two weeks.
In that time, they play Scotland, who are threatening to put out a B side to save their best for the quarterfinal decider against Italy, and Romania.
Complacency or discontent is the enemy of any sports team. Coaches and other staff have to gauge players' moods, when to push them and how hard, when to console them, when to tell them to take time out.
Recently after Justine Henin won her second US Open title, in a year when she was divorced and had a brother injured in a car crash, her coach Carlos Rodriquez said in stilted English: "It's maturity, it's nothing about tennis. The tennis player is still first a human being; if the human being going good, feeling good, the tennis player too."
The same applies to the All Blacks and how their staff manage them through their appallingly weak draw.
Travel will help. They move twice next week to Aix en Provence, then Edinburgh, and after that have consistent journeys to keep them ticking over.
