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As a survivor of the 1999 World Cup tragedy, Byron Kelleher had a dreadful sense of deja vu early in the second half when Luke McAlister was sent to the sinbin.
Reduced to 14 men as a consequence of McAlister's off-the-ball shoulder charge on Yannick Jauzion, the All Blacks appeared to lose a little belief and much of their composure.
Doubts then swept through the team when Thierry Dusautoir was worked free to score a try in the final minute of McAlister's absence to bring the score level at 13-all.
And for Kelleher, thoughts of the dramatic French revival at Twickenham in 1999 rushed into his head.
The halfback had seen it before, he'd seen in 1999 how the French could make quick-fire strikes and he knew as Dusautoir crossed to wild chants of "allez Bleus" that the All Blacks were going to have to dig very deep to survive.
"It didn't help going down to 14 men," said Kelleher. "We knew then the French were building in confidence and that put us under a bit of pressure. We were doing a lot of pick and go, a lot of close stuff rather than our more expansive stuff, and that was because we didn't have good front-foot ball.
"I was absolutely devastated. We are hurting, there is no hiding. I shed a few tears after the game and had this reflection of my career as an All Black."
For Kelleher, there was the double pain of knowing not only that the All Blacks had crashed out of the World Cup, but that he had also played his last test.
His pain was not helped by being subbed off with 20 minutes remaining.
The man who will ironically become a teammate at Toulouse with several members of the French squad was perplexed that the All Blacks waited until the 77th minute to attempt a long-range field goal.
"I thought we had an opportunity to work the ball in-field through our forwards," Kelleher said.
"We had been doing a lot of good driving and there was maybe time to look to set things up."
The All Blacks, though, focused on scoring a try in the final five minutes. They hammered away through the forwards, crashing back into contact just one pass out from the breakdown.
The French defence was astonishing in its intensity and accuracy, and the relentless wave of tacklers panicked the All Blacks into strangely waiting until McAlister was almost in his own half and on the right side of the field - making it a harder kick for a right-footer - before snapping a field goal effort.
The ball fell short and as it did, Kelleher's worst fears were confirmed - for the second time in his career he had been part of a well-fancied All Black side to be toppled by the French.
