KEY POINTS:
It would be easy to look at the lead-up form of the two sides heading into tomorrow's quarter-final in Cardiff and write off the French.
After all, they haven't beaten the All Blacks since 2000, and have hardly set their home World Cup alight after crashing in the opening game against Argentina.
The circumstance the French team finds itself in at the Millennium Stadium is the reason why it has the potential to be such a threat.
Put yourself in the shoes of the French players and imagine their thought processes leading up to this game. Here they are, in the event their country is hosting, and yet they find themselves in neutral Cardiff and are having to play the tournament favourites there.
They are also having to contemplate the fact that if they lose, for them the tournament is over, and they will have offered very little to it.
The French are desperate.
In those circumstances, it is not unreasonable to expect that they will produce the best rugby they have of the tournament to date.
Even that should not be enough against a side as capable as the All Blacks are, but it is in situations like this that the extraordinary can happen. The level of adrenalin that affects the players can stir previously unseen levels of performance.
It still shouldn't be enough, as that passion might not be co-ordinated or well-directed, but the All Blacks only have to look back eight years to see what can occur if they lose their focus or are below their best.
Once the French start to believe and gain momentum, as they did in that second half at Twickenham, they can be an irresistible force.
The other quarter-final tomorrow morning pits the tournament's quiet achievers, Australia, against England.
The Wallabies are the wild card of the teams remaining at the World Cup.
They are capable of beating any of the sides still in the tournament, and are the only team to have beaten the All Blacks this year. Whether they could win the three hard matches they'd need to - England, New Zealand and South Africa - to win the tournament is the question.
Should they achieve that, they will have surely earned the title of world champions. I am not so sure.
While their belief has grown as the tournament has progressed, the Australian depth is already being challenged by injury.
That is going to make it tough for them, although you can rely on the Australians to be tough - they've shown that attribute plenty of times in the past.
If they are not to win the World Cup, the question with Australia becomes how much damage they will inflict and to whom before they depart.
The second day of quarter-finals looks easy enough to predict.
Fiji has already achieved at the World Cup just by making the top eight. They will bow out to South Africa and go home happy, but the likelihood is that Argentina's fairytale will go on for another week at least.
The Pumas' success at this event is the positive injection the world game has been waiting for.
Argentina should get by Scotland comfortably to advance to the semi-finals, and the fact that we expect their success at this level is an achievement in itself.
As Argentina is not historically a major test nation, its participation in the semi-finals would offer the hope that the international game has at last found another genuine competitor.
Nor would they be just making up the numbers in a potential semi-final against a South African side with an eye on the final.
On their performances to date, Argentina have shown they possess the tactical acumen, flair and raw power to make life difficult for the Springboks.
