KEY POINTS:
Having completed a rout of Romania, which included 13 tries and some dazzling rugby mixed with a dose of distinctly ordinary stuff, the All Blacks did their ritual walk the length of the ground.
It's a chance to both cool down and acknowledge the packed houses they have
drawn throughout their pool C programme.
As they reached one end, they might have picked up the chant of 35,000 fans reverberating round the stadium.
"Allez les Bleus, Allez les Bleus," they roared, followed shortly by the French national anthem La Marseillaise.
It was a useful reminder.
Yes, they love watching the All Blacks, they admire the rugby they play.
But, bottom line, you're in France now, fellas, and when push comes to shove ...
With each team at the World Cup, you wonder what they've contributed.
Portugal and Japan brought unbridled enthusiasm; Georgia some resilient and powerful forwards; the Tongans, Fijians and Samoans ferocious tackling and, at least in the case of the first two, some terrific, spirited rugby.
Romania? They brought tight shorts.
The sight of giant, muscular yellow clad Romanian forwards wearing what amounted to cycling shorts left little to the imagination. Too much information, in some cases.
They have also been the fall-down guys of the cup, which loses part of their sympathy vote.
Romanians were dropping all over the stadium virtually from the start. Flies copping a dose of Raid have lasted longer than some of these blokes.
But they raised the odd eyebrow, too, with the strength of some of their forward play, including one period shortly before their only try by barrel-shaped hooker Marius Tincu nine minutes before halftime.
In common with other East Europeans, they do love a decent maul, and as more than one All Black forward attested afterwards, they're not exactly 60kg weaklings. They look mean, too, few more so than Tincu; yet there he was at the national anthem having a quiet blub.
Yesterday he scored his third try of the cup, which is a fair achievement.
"I feel tired. Tired, but good," he said afterwards, as you'd expect.
Like most of the genuine lightweights, Romania struggle when the pace goes up. They operate at a certain speed, and yesterday gave the All Blacks something to chew on from time to time. Ask them to step on the accelerator and things go haywire.
But they're learning - this was their first World Cup meeting with the All Blacks - and they're about to learn from a new coach, Frenchman Daniel Santamarans stepping aside with Romania's departure from the tournament.
Rugby players sometimes say the oddest things. Romania's captain, giant lock Sorin Socol, asked about the next coach, said: "I hope it's someone British."
Why on earth would you hope for that?
A glance at the British - make that British and Irish - contribution to the cup would surely encourage Romania's bosses to look elsewhere.
Santamarans said something yesterday too.
"It looks like it's their World Cup this time," he said of the All Blacks, based, you would hope, on more than the fact they had just piled on 80 points against his under-resourced band of battlers.
Romania have been at every cup, picking up five wins in 20 games. But they want to learn, want to better themselves.
Several of this squad are retiring, but at one point yesterday there were five players under 21 in the backline. So there lies some hope for the future.
"We don't compete in high-level competition and if you don't play enough high-level matches Romania won't progress," manager Robert Antonin said yesterday. "They have to stay with 20 teams at the cup for us to progress."
It's the plaintive cry of the small guy. You sympathise, but you also wonder whether the International Rugby Board, no friend of the little nations on the evidence of this operation, will hear the cry.
And - if you wonder what regular, severe duffings from the big guys do for their rugby - whether they should.
