Photos of the game
All Blacks 42 France 11KEY POINTS:
The truly rotten state of international rugby was laid bare last night when the All Blacks duffed up a cheap imitation French side to a backdrop of yawns and no doubt considerable channel-surfing.
With the French having taken a cast of never-heard-ofs, the onus was always on the All Blacks to justify the ticket price.
Coach Graham Henry talked earlier in the week about how the mission against the French was not just to win but to get back to basics. To make sure the foundation blocks - kickoffs, scrums, lineouts and defence - were all as solid as they should be.
Given the All Blacks' efforts, he of the arched eyebrows and milk-curdling scowl will not be much fun to be around this morning.
It was a back-to-basics campaign as effective as the one former British Prime Minister John Major presided over in the 1990s. On the surface, his cabinet gave the impression of living wholesome lives and honouring the basic values their regime supposedly represented.
But when the surface was scratched, it turned out they were just as riddled with sleaze and corruption as those who had gone before.
That's kind of what we got last night. The scoreline pointed to a job well done but the in-depth analysis will paint a different picture.
It will show the All Blacks were a bit sluggish into their work. It will show they lacked conviction and that their ball retention was nowhere near good enough to launch the multi-phase dynamic game that has kept them well ahead of the rest of the world.
It just seemed no one other than Ali Williams really fancied taking the direct approach. The big lock, so determined earlier in the season to earn the enfant terrible tag, was pretty close to the form he showed at the end of last year when he was rated player of the end of season tour.
There is obviously something about the black jersey and the environment created by Henry and his team that fires up the Dr Jekyll in Williams and sends Mr Hyde away for some quiet time.
Williams took control of the lineout and thundered around in the loose as if he was still playing club rugby.
Second row chum Chris Jack wasn't quite able to offer the same energy and dynamism but he did chip in with one mother of a tackle on French No 8 Sebastien 'Seabass' Chabal.
The Frenchman, who would come runner-up to the Loch Ness Monster in a beauty parade, exacted his revenge a few minutes later when he poleaxed Chris Masoe in a tackle that enhanced Chabal's hardman reputation.
But that was about it in terms of entertainment. There was a bit of a dust-up in the second half when the French took exception to some iffy All Black footwork.
It was all pretty tame, though. More stares and verbals rather than serious connections.
New Zealand's opening try was probably the pick of the bunch. It came after Dan Carter threw a no-look pass to Joe Rokocoko and slick hands by Isaia Toeava put Aaron Mauger between the posts.
Probably, though, the coaching panel at this stage of the season will be focusing on areas they need to improve rather than getting carried away with what went right.
The scrum needs some attention. Not the initial hit or grunt work but the accuracy at the base where Chris Masoe and Piri Weepu infrequently got in each other's way and were at times a little too like a modern version of Laurel and Hardy.
There was a mixed bag from the lineout as usual, with all the old sins cropping up - dodgy throws, poor calls and messy collections. To be fair, though, there have been much worse days at the office in the past two years and the aerial work will presumably get slicker as the combinations bed down.
Well, at least that's what the coaching panel will be banking on. Everything about their planning is geared towards gradual improvement, with the peak coming in September.
The All Blacks set their base camp last night and will accept they have some way to go from there to reach the summit.
New Zealand 42 (A. Mauger (2), S. Sivivatu (2), R. So'oialo tries; D. Carter pen, con; P. Weepu pen, con; N. Evans 2 cons, pen)
France 11 (B. Thierry try; B. Boyet 2 pens)
