KEY POINTS:
Graham Henry has been quoted as saying the All Blacks are still the world's best team.
It's an interesting remark, given that they're not even in this weekend's World Cup top four.
After the All Blacks had beaten Scotland by a mile during pool play, yet not played
particularly well, one of his assistants, Steve Hansen, made a significant observation.
It was all very well being regarded as the best team in the game, but "to win, you have to be the best team in the tournament". Which clearly the All Blacks were not.
If they were, if they allied their rugby playing ability with the mental agility required to cope with pressure situations, they would be running out at the Stade de France to play England tomorrow morning. They didn't, they're not - so they aren't.
There's an old saying about the sum of the parts being more relevant than the individual components. So, think of the All Blacks in these terms: how many would look hard in the mirror, then put their hand up and claim to have been the best in their position during the cup?
Not "are they the best player in their position" - but "were they the best during the last month", to go back to Hansen's pertinent point.
However, it's worth adding a rider: the All Blacks did not last long enough in the cup to have their credentials fully tested. One tough contest did for them. Further games against, say, England and South Africa, would have provided fuller answers. But it's safe to say the front row of Carl Hayman, Anton Oliver and Tony Woodcock were never bested and were unlikely to have been. It was not their fault they have packed away their black kit.
And, as an aside, watching The Big Three tackle England's Andrew Sheridan, Phil Vickery and the quarrelsome tubby Mark Regan tomorrow would have been a sight.
Ali Williams had a fine cup, was comfortably the All Blacks' best lock. But others have impressed - England's Simon Shaw for starters, and Sebastien Chabal - if in a different way. Still, Williams can be content on a personal level.
Jerry Collins? No argument here, although Thierry Dusautoir was pretty special for France last weekend and Schalk Burger puts up a strong case, if sailing close to the legal wind too often these days.
Leon MacDonald was a consistently solid, reliable fullback. But Wallaby Chris Latham was pretty useful too and England's Jason Robinson, now back to full fitness, is having an Indian summer before retirement.
Doug Howlett was comfortably the best of the three specialist wingers on the strength of his two games, which produced five tries. He finished his test career on a high note, and bows out as the country's highest test tryscorer, even if he wasn't deemed the right man for the biggest test. But then Bryan Habana, JP Pietersen and Vincent Clerc have also been sharp.
Nick Evans was excellent value, the ideal utility, but a starting space could not be found for him.
And then, ummm.
Luke McAlister? Yannick Jauzion and Francois Steyn might beg to differ. Halfbacks? Two names to silence that thought: Agustin Pichot and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde. Thank you.
Dan Carter seemed off-colour too much of the time. The world's best player wasn't at exactly the time he needed to be, and if his calf injury was worse than was let on, then he was let down, too.
And what of the skipper? So often so good, he had his moments but was not the dominating force he has been. Compare his form with that of Juan Smith, a good but not exceptional flanker but playing fine rugby now.
Hansen was right.
The best teams, the best players, command on the big stages. It doesn't matter how good you are if you don't produce it in the only month that matters in the four-year cycle.