KEY POINTS:
It was a sporting moment in which to say thanks for a few small mercies, and move on. Quickly. But, alas, to where?
The rugby test season began in a manner that, had it been the opening night for a Broadway play, it would have been shut down
by the critics pronto.
On an occasion given over to a distressing number of understudies, the under-pressure French were nobbled in the early stages by the officials, and spent the rest of the match often bravely trying to keep the margin of defeat against the All Blacks to a reasonable level.
Saturday night's offering was not what a test between two of the great rugby nations should be about. And anyone looking for rugby solace and believing that it might be provided by the World Cup tournament in Europe this year should avert their eyes when looking at the pool stage.
After years of meticulous All Black planning, the world's top-ranked side will face Scotland, Portugal, Italy and Romania in Pool C. Those teams will have as much chance of victory as France C.
The mercies on Saturday night were small, and few and far between.
Sebastien Chabal's smashing tackle on Chris Masoe, a reminder that the All Blacks have a front row that ranks with the greatest, in Ali Williams an erratic lock who has the potential to be a dominant force at test level, a hint or two that Joe Rokocoko might rediscover his energy and confidence, a few promising dabs from Isaia Toeava and new halfback Brendon Leonard.
As a grand occasion though, it hit the floor a long time before Masoe did and stumbled just as badly in trying to recover.
Had this test been transported back in time, audiences of old would have raved about it. The modern game contains so much more action and skill that it is virtually from another planet. Today's audience, flooded with sports action and entertainment choices, is far more discerning.
What the game of old had, though, and what the modern test fare is missing, is the credibility and drama that comes when the combatants are desperately putting their best foot forward, straining with every fibre in the pursuit of victory. What we have now is a series of bluffs and dud hands played in the hope of snaring the World Cup pot.
Where once a test was a glorious battle in which everything was on the line, international rugby's reputation is being hung out to dry.
It has got to the point that even when the brave All Black captain Richie McCaw left Eden Park with a hip injury, you immediately suspected - rightly or wrongly - that it was a precautionary move rather than a battered forward being forced off in despair.
The stop-start nature of rugby can find its own glory when entwined in a titanic battle, but as a dress rehearsal it makes for a poor spectacle. As for the musical interludes, I'll make another plea here for rugby to let the audience set the tone at tests, even if it insists on turning everything else into a disco.
Modern rugby at its worst - which it was on Saturday night - feels like some sort of corporate plaything, plastered with advertisements while selling itself very badly.
The IRB, quite rightly, is taking an increasing amount of criticism for its failure to restore the lustre of international competition.
Let's face it, the IRB has always been a ship of fools, the difference now being that the power of European money has left it as an international ghost ship. Rather than rescuing test rugby, a World Cup of lopsided results might send it to the bottom.
The week just gone has been a sad if inevitable one for rugby, and despite its obvious failings, the IRB is not the only culprit.
There was no more galling sound than that of the All Black coach castigating the French for bringing a substandard side.
New Zealand and Graham Henry are hardly squeaky clean in the foul business of demeaning the international game.
What is most irritating is that Henry might believe we are so blinded by All Black loyalties that the hypocrisy of his words will go unchallenged.
International rugby is in serious trouble. It needs clear-headed honesty, not partisanship, to bring about a revival.
The fact is that the All Blacks routinely field sides that are not the best, and give out test jerseys on a trial basis. (There are, to pick one position, nine test props running around, counting newcomer John Schwalger).
It was also Henry who turned the opening half of this year's Super 14 competition into a farce by pulling out 22 leading players.
So, roll on the second test. Having fiddled their way to a 31-point victory in the first, the All Blacks will blast this French side to smithereens in Wellington. A 60-point margin is in the offing.
Stirring tests are things to savour, but rugby right now too often leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
High
Team New Zealand's lead in the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Low
Test match farce at Eden Park
