KEY POINTS:
All Black coach Graham Henry yesterday allayed French fears that Les Bleus' participation in their own tournament would be disastrous and short lived.
Henry was basking in the afterglow of a 76-14 drubbing of Italy on the same day French fans were waking up to the horrible realisation that their World Cup dream had quickly become a nightmare after an opening night loss to Argentina.
But Henry said anybody writing the hosts off was misguided.
"France is a very good rugby team," he said. "They will still be a major factor in this tournament."
Quite what Henry is basing his assertion on is unclear. France were poor in their 12-17 loss to the South Americans, remaining tryless through 80 frustrating minutes, despite dominating possession.
They should remain positive about making the knockout stages, but it will take a quantum leap in performance for them to be competitive with the Southern Hemishpere giants.
"Maybe they have a mental block against Argentina, who have a good record against them," Henry continued. "A lot of their players play in the French competition."
Henry might just not want to give France any more motivational ammunition as the smart money is now on a New Zealand-France quarter-final in Cardiff next month.
Despite a big edge over France in recent meetings Henry will be wary about the Gallic ability to pull a world-class performance out of nowhere.
Still Henry's shoes would be a lot more comfortable to stand in at the moment compared to French coach Bernard Laporte's. His team have been castigated in the local press and they now face a must-win match against Ireland in Paris in a fortnight.
Perhaps Henry was just calming the nerves of many who feel this tournament might lose a little of its lustre if the hosts were sent packing after pool play.
