The All Blacks retreated into their shells under the pressure of injury and of the nation, but they did not buckle, writes Irish Times rugby analyst Liam Toland.
"Allons enfants de la Patrie (Arise, children of the Nation) and arise is what they did. What a brilliant statement from the French, holding hands like a well-heeled, orderly bunch of school children on a walking trip to church, as the world awaited their slaughter.
"In a flash as All Black Piri Weepu was cranking up the Kapa O Pango, “All Blacks, let me become one with the land, This is our land that rumbles,” Thierry Dusautoir and his fellow children left the arrow head and faced the All Blacks as one, becoming men.
"I was on the edge of my seat, nervous, tense and totally unsure of what was to happen next. Clearly France needed to starve the All Blacks of time and space but the pre-match gauntlet was laid down; 'We’re ready!' What was Aaron Cruden thinking as Dusautoir flattened him: ‘God defend New Zealand’?"
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