View photosKEY POINTS:
At least one indisputable fact has emerged during rugby's Phoney War - the All Blacks can scrummage.
Amid all the high jinks and semi-opposed nonsense that was supposed to serve as test football, it was the All Black scrummaging power - denied Keith Robinson minutes before kickoff with a calf strain and Ali Williams shortly after with a possible broken jaw - that stood as the only true beacon of value.
The French offered zero in the way of attacking threat.
They were timid in the tackle and looked exactly like a disparate mob thrown together at late notice, with only a few carrying genuine hopes of seeing action this year when it really matters.
So it was little wonder Joe Rokocoko was able to play his way back into form and glide down his wing with his hips dancing to a samba beat playing in his head only - to help the All Blacks to their biggest score and biggest margin over France.
It was no wonder Byron Kelleher looked the player of old, tilting his lance more willingly and using his bubble car frame to breach the French periphery.
And it was no wonder Nick Evans had an assured night. He had room to swing a cat and time enough to boil an egg.
But for all the failings of the French, all their inadequate preparation and apathy for the contest, their ability and passion for scrummaging was undiminished.
Watch a big club game in France and the scrums are for real. Not for the faint-hearted. Take any gnarly old prop out of a leading club - as French coach Bernard Laporte chose to do - and there should be no problem getting the old timer to dog it out and hold his own.
But that was not the case last night. Old laws, new laws, France A, France C, it doesn't matter - the boys in black know how to go about their business.
That fact alone should ease jangling nerves about the road ahead.
No-one, not the Boks, not the Pumas and absolutely not the Wallabies will get the better of the All Black scrum on the evidence of last night's brutal outing.
It was in the dark foreboding confines of the front row where the victory seed was sown. The power and technique were just too much for a veteran French unit who continually tried to come to the surface for air when the squeeze really came on. It's hard to blame them. It was chicken out or face the prospect of seriously compacted spines.
And it was the sight of the French forwards retreating faster than their army in 1939 that broke the spirits of les Bleus. It didn't matter who put in the ball, the All Blacks would emerge with possession or have the French in such disarray, it was only a matter of seconds before they coughed up the blessed thing anyway.
Anyone who reckons Anton Oliver doesn't deserve his place in the side needs a lobotomy. Rugby's deepest thinker belied his aspiring intellectual status with a performance that was pure henchman.
One minute, he quotes Camus and uses words like hubris and the next, he's all sweat and grunt - Mr Neanderthal.
He even nailed his work at the lineout, no mean feat given the late withdrawal of Robinson and early removal of Williams. That forced Chris Jack to take on a more senior role and the big Cantabrian was far more prominent than at Eden Park.
Which is exactly what the All Black selectors wanted to see. They have made the theme of these early games 'Back to Basics' and expect consistent improvements in all facets between now and the World Cup.
They know that it is only through attention to detail and accurate execution of the basics that we will see more flashes from Isaia Toeava, who looked seriously quick when he scorched over in the second half.
They know that if the team keeps building, we will see more of the offloads and continuity that was sporadically on show last night.
And they also know that in the weeks to come, when the opposition gets serious, it will become an awful lot harder for all those skills to be executed.
New Zealand 61 (A. Oliver, B. Kelleher, J. Rokocoko (2), L. MacDonald, I. Toeava, J. Collins, K. Mealamu, N. Evans tries; L. McAlister 2 pens, 5 cons) France 10 (J. Laharrague try; B. Boyet pen, con). HT 30-3.
