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All Blacks hooker Anton Oliver felt compelled to apologise to his French opponents following comments critical of the tourists from New Zealand coach Graham Henry.
Former captain Oliver sought out French veteran Thomas Castaignede for a quiet chat after Saturday's record test win at Westpac Stadium.
He wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings after a week of public mudslinging between both teams.
Henry had accused France of negative, go-slow tactics in the first test, claiming it was a trend creeping into the game generally.
Castaignede responded that Henry had shown a lack of respect to his team while French coach Bernard Laporte delivered some personal barbs the way of his All Blacks counterpart.
Oliver was quick to light the peace pipe with Castaignede, who had been a teammate of his in Barbarians teams.
"I just apologised to him for some of the stuff that was said earlier in the week and hoped the goodwill of rugby could push past that," Oliver said. "It was just a bit of gamesmanship."
A unique aspect of the post-test presentations was that both teams mingled together to be photographed with the Dave Gallaher Trophy.
It was prompted by Oliver who, after getting clearance from current skipper Richie McCaw, motioned the opposition over.
"Even though we all wear logos and it's a lot of money and all the rest of it, we're still sportspeople and there's got to be sportsmanship. If that goes then we're really in trouble."
- NZPA
