Barnes reunion spices up finale

Wayne Barnes sends Luke McAlister to the sin bin in 2007. Photo / Getty Images

The All Blacks will re-visit the spectre of their 2007 World Cup quarter-final defeat to France at Cardiff when they arrive in Wales this week for their last test of the year which will be refereed by one Wayne Barnes.

It will be the first time they have played under the Englishman at the Millennium Stadium since that infamous afternoon seven years ago. It was an extremely dark time for the team and coaches, including Graham Henry and assistant Steve Hansen, but has played a big part in their recent success.

It forced them, and skipper Richie McCaw, to look deeply within and they have become better for it. It led to an increased focus on leadership and the ability to make decisions under pressure. Certainly, McCaw has admitted he's a better leader because of it.

Barnes will forever be linked with the All Blacks' 20-18 defeat due to him missing the forward pass in the second half which led to France's match-winning try, and the fact he didn't penalise the French once in the final 60 minutes despite their desperate defence, which constantly crept over the offside line, and dubious tactics at the breakdown.

He also sent Luke McAlister to the sin bin, all of which was too much for some New Zealanders, who issued death threats to the then 28-year-old official who had been a professional referee for only two years at that point.

The All Blacks have played under Barnes many times since, including the recent Rugby Championship defeat to the Springboks in Johannesburg when he awarded a match-winning penalty to the Boks after witnessing Liam Messam's high tackle on Schalk Burger on the big screen. The endless replay of the incident whipped the crowd into a frenzy and clearly influenced Barnes' decision, which was right, but controversial all the same and led to a complaint by Hansen, who felt TV producers were having too much of a say in the game. The controversy continued last weekend at Twickenham with several of Nigel Owens' decisions based on replays and crowd noise.

Henry, in his book The Final Word, briefly thought match-fixing was the only explanation for the shock loss to the French, and McCaw, in his book The Open Side, blamed not Barnes but those in charge for selecting such an inexperienced referee to adjudicate a match between the hosts and tournament favourites.

"My beef isn't with Barnes so much as with his inexperience," McCaw wrote. "This was Barnes' biggest game by far. On the big stage, an inexperienced referee is likely to become so afraid of making a mistake that he stops making any decisions at all.

"By the end of it, I thought Barnes was frozen with fear and wouldn't make any big calls."

There will also be plenty of scrutiny on former Wales coach Hansen from the Welsh press and public, who will probably delight in matching him up against fellow Kiwi Warren Gatland, who last year enjoyed success as British and Irish Lions coach.

Gatland has won three Six Nations tournaments with Wales and took them to a World Cup semifinal in 2011, but his record against New Zealand, South Africa and Australia is poor.

The only success Gatland has had in 26 attempts against those three nations was in 2008 when the Wallabies were beaten 21-18 in Cardiff. Wales last beat the All Blacks in 1953.