Rugby: The dream shattered by French brilliance

By Wynne Gray

Just as they did eight years ago, the All Blacks will trudge off to Cardiff with their best World Cup hope now being a win in the third-place playoff against South Africa so their successors do not have to qualify for the 2003 tournament.

Favoured by the easy side of the draw after a very meritorious pool victory over England, the All Blacks disintegrated at Twickenheam yesterday losing to France, who had little right to be in the same league as the men in black.

Even with their history of delivering the sublime from debris, the French had little form, too many injuries, suspensions and internal ructions to get away with yesterday's win.

But they harnessed their passion to their natural skills, they played with calmness and brought a beastly forward fire to Twickenham which the All Blacks could neither resist nor compose themselves against.

As Jeff Wilson, who indicated that this would be his last World Cup, said of France's second-spell surge: "For 30 minutes in this game of rugby today we were completely outplayed. They took every opportunity we gave them.

"We are obviously devastated by it because we had our opportunities to take it to the next stage, but for 30 minutes we did not do the job.

"Like John [Hart] said, we have to suck it up like All Blacks. We put our heads high and we face up to the fact that we go to Cardiff."

But when they got back to their Surrey base, the wonder at how they blew a 14-point second-half lead to lose so comprehensively would have taken its toll. This was the greatest turnaround in All Black history.

Skipper Taine Randell accepted that there was a lack of organisation and that the French pack had out-muscled his forwards in the rucks and mauls.

Olivier Magne, Abdel Benazzi and Fabien Pelous led the onslaught with destructive ball-carrying, five-eighths Christophe Lamaison did not make a mistake and the French also had a little bit of bonne chance.

But they made their good fortune. The signs in the first half were there as they made several incisive blindside breaks.

However, Jonah Lomu, with another extraordinary bullocking, player-shredding run, smashed over or past eight tacklers and Andrew Mehrtens kicked the goals for the seven point lead at the interval.

The All Blacks had taken the strong wind, hoping to sting the French hard and often, but the slim lead, helped by a lopsided penalty count advantage to the All Blacks from referee Jim Fleming, was none too secure.

Another Lomu spectacular soon after halftime should have put France away as fullback Xavier Garbajosa sidestepped his tackling duties.

But on a day when the suburb of Twickenham reverberated to the Halloween cries of trick or treat, the All Blacks ran out of party pieces.

Twin Lamaison drop goals and two penalties began the resurgence as his pack's pick-and-go ferocity staggered the All Blacks.

The panic spread. Wilson's injudicious return run was swallowed up, the ball turned over and Fabien Galthie's blindside chip-kick sat up for Christophe Dominici to run 30m for the try, the conversion and the lead for the Tricolors.

Another massive forward surge, a Lamaison grubber and Richard Dourthe beat the cover in goal.

A 14-point All Black lead had evaporated to a 12-point deficit in just 13 minutes of surreal mayhem.

The French were so charged up that they ignored a penalty kick for goal from a close-range angle and kicked for touch. The plan was repelled.

Surely the All Blacks would recover. They too turned down a 27th-minute penalty chance in favour of a scrum when trailing 24-36. Three points would have been a gift for Mehrtens and there was a deal of time left. Scrum it ref, Randell must have said.

The backline move broke down when Tana Umaga dropped the ball, Magne and Philippe Bernat-Salles hacked it 70m with the wing just beating the covering Wilson to the touchdown.

Game over, the World Cup quest in ruins, reputations frayed.

The attacking forces which had been a regular All Black threat misfired against inspired French tackling. The defensive screens which had been very clinical lost their shape.

As they were entitled to, France completed a boisterous lap of honour for the crowd of 73,000. The losers shook hands, then all but a small group stole away quickly to their private grief.

Only Lomu of the starting XV, a real danger but strangely under-used yesterday, Kees Meeuws, Royce Willis, Justin Marshall, Mark Hammett and Andrew Blowers waited by the tunnel to sniff the full despair of defeat, but also to congratulate their opponents once more.

It must have been excruciatingly tough for that sextet but they showed some of the courtesy which should still be part of professional sport.

Had the All Blacks emulated the beaten Springboks and departed with a gracious lap of honour for their supporters it would have been appreciated.

Maybe the memories of 1995 still burned too deep for too many.