KEY POINTS:
Rugby World Cup fever has well and truly struck France, says former All Black Andy Haden.
"The atmosphere was simply extraordinary," said Haden, who arrived back in Auckland yesterday after attending the opening game between France and Argentina. "I was just amazed by how much interest had been generated in a peripheral sport. It was just extraordinary, the amount of media interest, the column inches and the supplements dedicated to it."
Haden went to the opening match, played at the Stade de France, with former Springbok Rob Lowe. Haden said he had had an inkling that Argentina might pose a challenge to the hosts, but had not expected the 17-12 boilover.
"He [Lowe] said to me beforehand, 'You know, I'm sure Argentina will win this.' I said I had a suspicion that might happen but I couldn't see how they were going to win it. They didn't actually bring a lot of tactics to it, other than their kicking being superb, and their passion was just unimaginable."
Haden caught the England vs USA game and the All Blacks' opening match against Italy on television before flying home. He said England looked inept, while the All Blacks had simply outgunned Italy in their 76-14 tournament opener.
"I was interested in [Italian coach Pierre] Berbizier's comment that the All Blacks are a myth and we're not playing against the myth, we're playing against the All Blacks. I wondered what he followed that up with after the game was finished ... he must have thought he was still involved with a team which still had some horsepower."
Yesterday other former All Blacks joined Haden in praising New Zealand's performance.
Gary Whetton said the All Blacks' opening-half blitz was impressive, but the quality of Italy's resistance was questionable.
Another former All Black lock, Robin Brooke, rated the performance highly, especially the way team kept at the task after the game was won.
Former All Black fullback Allan Hewson believed there was plenty of improvement to come.
