Eddie Butler of The Guardian writes that France were unrecognisable, which meant New Zealand were too - but champion sides know how to do things the hard way.
"The All Blacks had a gruelling night, which may be no way to start a celebration of their victory. But they were made to look distinctly uncomfortable by France, who were so extraordinarily unrecognisable from their shambolic selves at all other stages of the tournament that we should have known all along and beyond any reasonable doubt that it was inevitable that they would play like this. They remain contrary to the depths of their gorgeously unfathomable rugby souls, and we should treasure every mutinous sneer and sardonic shrug as indications merely of beauty ahead.
"There remains something, however, of an elephant in the room. The referee. Craig Joubert did not rise to the global occasion, only to the Kiwi event. He was not a 16th man out there, for the Eden Park crowd had already claimed that role, an expression of a nation's will that was not going to be denied.
"But Joubert was not a curious investigator here. He seemed to take the view that this was not a crime scene but a house party and it would be rude to be too probing. In short, he refereed France but not the All Blacks. These seven weeks have not been the referees' finest."
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