"Everything" includes a wretched campaign which threatened to derail a couple of times during pool play, spats with coach Marc Lievremont and a feeling this might be among the more shambolic campaigns by a nation not alien to that rugby concept.
Lievremont, to absolutely no surprise, named an unchanged XV for the final from the 9-8 semifinal win over Wales. He has a settled starting lineup - if settled is not an inappropriate word for this squad. Some time ago he hitched his wagon to Morgan Parra as a converted first five-eighths and is locked into the Parra-Dimitri Yachvili axis behind the scrum.
His reserves will be named in the next 24 hours. Several players have niggling injuries but "the XV will be on the pitch at 9pm Sunday", Lievremont added confidently.
For a man who should be weighed by the pressures of his nation, Lievremont seemed at ease with his situation ahead of his last game in charge of Les Bleus.
Is this the most important week of his four years in charge? No more or less so than the weeks leading up to the quarter-finals and semifinals and "I try to tell myself I'm a very privileged person".
When the heritage issue was raised - that France have done the game a disservice by abandoning the classic flair so long an essential ingredient of that country's game - he claimed observers had "memory blanks", pointing to other moments in history when French rugby was seriously lacking in joie de vivre. He said if France must play in the awful, negative fashion they did to beat Wales to secure the crown they would. Asked then if that would be good enough to beat the All Blacks, he replied: "No, I don't think so." Go figure.
Lievremont, a member of the celebrated 1999 side which toppled the All Blacks in a stunning semifinal, had warm praise for their "really exceptional" effort in crushing Australia in last weekend's semifinal. He said every time France played the All Blacks, the New Zealanders were favourites so that is nothing new. Cunningly, he also reckoned final referee Craig Joubert to be the best in the game.
Lievremont the pragmatist said his feet tended to be on terra firma. He is no dreamer and has no special words in mind with which to inspire his players for the final.
Where France will hope to draw strength is that no one seems to give them a prayer in the final. So "us against the world" is gaining some currency.
There were few inquiries of a tactical nature yesterday. Not that it would have been worth anyone's while.
"I don't know how we're going to win, but I know how we're going to try to win. I think I'll keep that strategy for the players' ears."
