All Blacks v France: The rise of an unexpected No 10

France's Morgan Parra admitted he had never imagined he would play a Rugby World Cup final at first five-eighths. Photo / Doug Sherring

Morgan Parra expects to be back at halfback when he returns to his club side in France.

But that's for later. Here and now, all he's thinking about is justifying his coach's faith in his ability to help push France to victory in Sunday night's Rug y World Cup final against the All Blacks.

Parra arrived in New Zealand as No2 halfback behind the influential Dimitri Yachvili, but when coach Marc Lievremont began having doubts about first choice first five-eighths Francois Trinh-Duc's form, Parra was shoulder-tapped for the pool game against the All Blacks on September 24.

He's stayed there for the three subsequent games, steadily improving as his confidence has grown, and kicking an impeccable 3/3 in the semifinal win over Wales, when Yachvili had a night off goalkicking to ease the pressure on a heavily bruised thigh.

It offers an intriguing possibility about the remainder of what is shaping as a lengthy international career for the 22-year-old from Metz, who will play his 36th test on Sunday.

"I think when I go back to my club [Clermont Auvergne] I'm going back to No9," he said.

"To be a good No9 is one thing; but to be good at No10 this weekend is my objective. But as long as I'm playing and enjoying it I don't care where I'm playing. And certainly the more I've played the more comfortable I feel in that position and I think that will show itself on the pitch at the weekend."

Parra admitted he had never imagined he'd play a World Cup final at first five-eighths.

"It's a childhood dream of mine and I'm trying to make the most of it, trying to enjoy it as best I can. But for the dream to come true, we have to win this weekend."

Parra also made plain that a degree of siege mentality is settling on the French squad.

They've been pilloried for the quality of their rugby for most of the cup - the first half against England in their quarter-final a notable exception, although the English were dreadful - and have adopted an age-old approach.

"For several weeks it has been us against the world," Parra said yesterday. "We thought after England we would have more support. Following the Wales match it was still us against the world so now we're used to that."

Several other French players have alluded to that mindset, and the importance of making it work to their advantage on Sunday.

They have spoken glowingly of the All Blacks' quality in recent days.

At the same time it has been noticeable that the volume is also slowly rising on their own chances on Sunday, players biting back against the critics, and talking of seizing the chance to write their names in cup history.

And Parra attempted to put to bed the talk of difficulties between Lievremont and the players, most recently seen in the coach describing as "spoiled brats" players who went out to celebrate their semifinal win last weekend over Wales, rather than keep a lid on their delight for one more week.

Parra denied there had been issues between coach and players.

"There have been negative rumours floating around about this team for some time now.

"Maybe [Lievremont] was just annoyed. For certain players the World Cup has been quite difficult and maybe they needed to go out.

"The whole group didn't go out so I'm not sure why he called us all spoiled brats. But we've spoken about it amongst ourselves and that's the end of it."

Parra's match-up against the new All Blacks first five-eighths Aaron Cruden should be one of the more fascinating head-to-head contests of the final. Parra likes what he's seen of the little Manawatu man.

"He's a big player for them, important for the All Blacks. He wasn't afraid to put himself out there against Australia so I'm expecting a huge match against him."