France simply weren’t that good, and the
Damian McKenzie will have to get used to being tackled again this weekend, because the Highlanders defence won’t open up like the Red Sea in the way the French did.
The tourists were lauded by Steve Hansen as the best defensive side in the world before they arrived on these shores.
Frankly, the All Blacks coach could have been taken on by the Commerce Commission for making misleading claims.
The French, even at full strength and with a spring in their step, are ranked No 8 in the world. But by the time the French limped into Dunedin just one of the starting XV which beat England in March would run onto the field.
The French were already toast, so hold your claims about All Blacks advances during June – we simply don’t know.
It is true that France made improvements during the Six Nations but they were coming off a low base. The talk in France is of a decent shot at the 2023 World Cup, not the coming one.
In fact, they are an absolute shadow of the last French team to play here, in 2011.
Where is the next William Servat, the big-scrummaging hooker who caused the All Blacks so much trouble in the 2011 World Cup final?
The new Julien Bonnaire, the aerial specialist who would have sorted out France’s awful lineout? Or his hardman back-row colleague Imanol Harinordoquy?
And as for Thierry Dusautoir – with all due respect, there isn’t a current Frenchman in the same arrondissement as Richie McCaw’s great rival.
Among the backs young No 10 Anthony Belleau showed something but it is only Wesley Fofana who would crack a list of the world’s top 30.
No wonder the French played with a sense of fatalism.
They were on the wrong end of some refereeing decisions but for some