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CARDIFF - The All Blacks players spent today suffering in the Welsh countryside and hope New Zealand rugby fans can quickly get over the torture of their worst rugby World Cup failure.
It was a sombre day under grey skies at their hotel retreat for the All Blacks, far from Paris where the rest of the tournament will played out where the New Zealand side will never even get close to.
They were to fly out of London on Tuesday morning (NZ time), arriving via Tokyo in Auckland at midday on Wednesday.
The coaching staff will be on board, along with 24 of the 30 players. Missing will be Mils Muliaina, Jerry Collins, Doug Howlett, Andy Ellis, Byron Kelleher and Neemia Tialata, whose partners and family are on flight schedules that couldn't be changed.
Standout lock Ali Williams said the sport was an ingrained part of the psyche for many New Zealanders but wondered if it was healthy to wallow too long in defeat, as has happened in Cardiff for a week since Wales exited prematurely.
"At the end of the day it's a game. In New Zealand we wear it on our sleeves and in our hearts and up in our blood but it's sport," Williams said.
"You win some and lose some and unfortunately this year, and in years gone past, they've won the ones that count.
"No one's got regrets. No one's looking back and saying `what if we'd done this or what if we'd done that'."
As usual Anton Oliver gave a deeper insight to the subject at hand.
He had been reading Glyn Harper's Massacre at Passchendaele and another World War I book, All Quiet on the Western Front and could compare elements of war to what he and the players went through in the dressing room post-match.
"The feeling in the shed was like no-man's land, as it was described in those two books. Sort of desolate, decay, the smell of - I don't want to dramatise it - but of death you know," he said.
"That's what it feels like for us, it feels like no-mans land. It's not a nice place to be. There will be lots of people back home who are sharing that as well. So come into no man's land, we can have a cup of tea together."
Oliver said any suggestion at home that the All Blacks were "out-passioned" should be cast aside. He felt the commitment from the forwards couldn't be faulted and praised France's approach and tactics.
"They tackled really, really well. They slowed our ball down and our game is all about quick ball. They put one person in to slow it down and they have a strong defensive line that is hard to break," he said.
"I think we got frustrated playing aerial ping pong and we started to try to play rugby deep within our own half and you make mistakes sitting there.
"The French in the second half defended really well and we made some mistakes and that was it. C'est la vie."
Oliver didn't think it was as big an emotional blow as in the 1999 semifinal loss to France at Twickenham.
"I think in 1999 we perhaps thought we were a bit better than we were. This time round we weren't as arrogant or over-confident. We just failed to adjust to the second half," he said.
"If you just look at the whole conditioning period, everything has been about this. It has just been taken away from us, floored by a knockout punch. What is there after that? There is nothing.
However, it was tough personally as he leaves soon to take up a contract with rich French club Toulon, the former captain severing his ties with the All Blacks at 59 tests.
"I didn't want to take my jersey off, I didn't want to leave it. It is very, very difficult for me. No one wants to finish their career like this. (We've) bled so much for the country and the team had such high hopes," he said.
- NZPA
