Wynne Gray's 50 greatest rugby moments: No.15

All Blacks skipper Taine Randell leaves the field after the side's semifinal defeat to France. Phto / Getty

Name a bigger upset in World Cup history than France's 43-31 semifinal victory against the All Blacks in 1999.

There are other contenders but the tidal wave of French resurgence, scoring 33 points in 28 minutes of unanswered second half mayhem against a side of the All Blacks pedigree, created a tournament commotion.

France's form all year had been modest. They finished last in the Five Nations and struggled through their pool matches with Canada, Namibia, Fiji and Argentina.

When Jonah Lomu steamed past a group of bewildered tacklers to give the All Blacks a 24-10 lead soon after the interval, the predictions looked to be on cue. Even when Christophe Lamaison drop kicked a couple of goals, it did not hint at a comeback until the All Blacks began to make errors, their defence left significant holes and France sensed the impetus of the match changing.

They slipped in some eye-gouging to continue the anxiety and with their belief rising as the All Blacks began to disintegrate, they danced in for three tries as Lamaison filled up his points card with every scoring method.

In their last test before they went to the World Cup, the All Blacks were flogged 28-7 by the Wallabies in Sydney and that defeat and some leadership issues hinted at problems ahead.

Easy points victories against Tonga, England, Italy and Scotland glossed over some of the deficiencies including a lack of real crunch, strange back four choices and an over-reliance on Lomu's venom.

The All Blacks were stunned by their destruction, the French were shocked and Wallaby coach Rod Macqueen admitted he had no footage of the winners to analyse because he expected to square off against the All Blacks in the final.

The All Black pain played out in slow-motion agony as the French made the most of some luck and latched on to a number of kicks which they turned into tries and the greatest reversal in All Black history.