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CHRISTCHURCH - Perplexed All Blacks fans yearning for closure after New Zealand's latest rugby World Cup implosion were given little tangible to work with when the crestfallen squad made their first tentative steps home yesterday.
While the inadequacies of English referee Wayne Barnes have been pounced upon by blinkered supporters as the solitary justification for France's stunning 20-18 quarterfinal triumph in Cardiff last Sunday (NZT), the manner of New Zealand's fifth failure to bring the Webb Ellis Trophy home clearly requires closer scrutiny.
The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) has instigated a wide ranging independent review in the aftermath of the All Blacks' best-resourced yet worst-performing campaign since the inaugural tournament was won at Eden Park 20 years ago.
Ideally that investigation will contain more concrete conclusions than the combined insights of the coaching staff and players that braved, and were then swiftly embraced, by fans in Christchurch, Auckland, and Wellington yesterday.
Since their galling experience in the Welsh capital there has been much soul searching within the squad or as head coach Graham Henry described it: "a lot of togetherness, a lot of men cuddling men, it was not a pretty sight."
When the quarterfinal is also formally dissected it will also not make for attractive viewing.
The coach is typically held accountable when the wheels dramatically fall off each four year cycle but Henry steadfastly maintained his unwavering belief in both rotation and the reconditioning programme.
"I'm totally comfortable with the strategies we put in place," he said.
"It's proven because we are the No 1 rugby side in the world and have been for a long time and still are - it's just that we haven't got that little yellow cup."
The advance party of 17 players faithfully toed the line and defended the perennial accusation that sudden death football and oxygen deprivation goes hand in hand with the world's supreme team between World Cups.
Setting aside Barnes' questionable performance and France's apparently unpenalisable behaviour after halftime in a mirror image of 2003, an opponent demonstrably inferior months before suddenly appeared unbreakable when the World Cup is at stake.
The same mental frailties that manifested themselves against the Wallabies at Telstra Stadium in November 2003, reappeared on cue at the Millennium Stadium, indicating a contributing factor was an inability to modify the game plan when under extreme stress.
The reluctance to attempt a dropped goal - until it was too late and too far out - provided more evidence of the All Blacks' poise and composure deserting them.
However, any mention of the dreaded `c' word, the choke, was given little countenance by the players yesterday.
Asked for his slant on a baffling defeat, injured hooker Keven Mealamu offered: "It's hard for me to look at the moment. It's still only a couple of days since it happened.
"We'll have a look and see where we could have done things better."
From his vantage point in the stands was a dropped goal not warranted?
"We had a lot of decision makers go off which made it really hard, there was a lot of shuffling around," he added, referring to the loss through injury of Daniel Carter, Nick Evans plus the substitution of Byron Kelleher and Anton Oliver.
"It's hard for me to say (about a dropped goal) because I wasn't out there. Those opportunities came up but there were opportunities as well. It's hard to fault what the boys did because they gave it a good crack."
But the timing of the stumble, surely it was not coincidental?
"I guess it's hard to stay on top for so long," Mealamu reflected.
"We did a lot of great things in the jersey, it's just unfortunate we weren't able to maintain it."
Reuben Thorne, another helpless onlooker, admitted the team's perceived shortcomings would again come under scrutiny.
"There'll be lots of questions I imagine, the coaches and players and everyone will be asking the same thing."
He had no solution for the All Blacks' inability to peak at the opportune moment.
"If I knew I'd fix it.
"The coaches have been open about their training methods and their selections and everything else. People were agreeing with it the whole way through.
"I can't think of anything we could have done better in terms of being prepared for that game."
After routinely drubbing the French over the past seven years Thorne accepted the defeat was hard for fans to rationalise.
"It doesn't help does it? Sport's like that, the best team doesn't always win. That's one of the beauties of it but it's also one of the hardest things when you're on the receiving end."
- NZPA
