Sorry if people don't want this mentioned again, ever, but I haven't ever written up about this match, and it is all part of the cathartic process for me!

I just watched the RWC Quarter Final for the first time ever on TV (yes that quarter final). I was actually sitting directly opposite a pass that was a mile forward on that fateful day and haven't ever been able to bring myself to sit down and watch it on TV since (although I have seen sporadic highlights). When I returned to NZ there was a mountain of DVDs my flatmate had recorded for me of all the key matches. I've re-watched a few, but the only AB match that I'd been able to bring myself to watch was the match between NZ and Romania which I'd actually missed when it happened while I was in England due to my cousin's daughter's birthday party.

So when I sat down to watch the QF tonight I was looking at it with the resolve to learn from the mistakes and see what we could've done better. To analyse why we lost, what our weaknesses were and how we could improve from there to ensure victories this season. Unfortunately I was shocked to find that even in replay we were bloody good and the only team that played any attacking rugby in the match.

In fact, I reckon we were outstanding in the game. I am proud of the way our guys played, the game-plan they played to, the skill they exhibited and the style they played. This team may be the worst ever performed AB side in a world cup based on results, but man were they a great side.

We could have kicked every possession we had away for 55 minutes of the match the way the French did, but I am proud that we didn't (the French were deservedly down 13-0 due to this strategy), and even if kicking every bit of possession away was a winning strategy I am proud that we didn't.

First of all, no individual player in the All Black side had a shocker. In fact, the following individuals deserve special mention IMO:

• Kelleher. He had a great match, with his typical bustling bursts around the fringes.
• So'oialo. He was outstanding, his pick and drive was immense and his speed and defence was incredible.
• Ali Williams. He was stealing lineout ball at will, brilliant on kick receipt, picked and drove well, solid in the scrums, unfairly penalised in a maul and immense in the loose.
• Evans. He carved it up for the few moments he was in play before his injury... made a bad decision to rush a pass, but had the French cut wide open.
• McAlister. He made so many bursts, linked well and used his chip-kick to good effect at the right times for a change.
• McCaw. He actually played pretty well, appeared to argued his point of view clearly and even-handedly to the referee, picked and drove well, and made a few bursts whilst doing a mountain of work in defence.
• Hore. Made good runs, picked and drove, defended well.

In addition to individual excellence, I must also say that:

•  Our scrum totally dominated.
•  Our lineout was totally secure and we won a number of French throws.
•  We weren't outplayed in the maul despite this being a French strength and a perceived AB weakness.

Our scrambling defence was only broken twice- once when we were a man down, and the second time due to a pass so far forward the guy throwing it wouldn't have looked out of place wearing a helmet and shoulder pads.

The yellow card was totally wrong, but even when we were a man down we chose the right options... soaking up time with pick and drive, maul and a drop goal attempt (which sadly sailed wide).

We didn't infringe much and perhaps we should've cheated more as the French were getting away with a bit, but I am proud that we didn't cheat (even if not cheating could be what cost us the game). The way things were unfolding, had we mimicked the French and used hands in the ruck and snuck up offside I am certain that Kaplan, Spreadbury and Barnes would have seen us through different lenses.

If there are any areas I could criticise, it would be our inability to protect the ball and support our men at some of the rucks, but it would've meant committing more players at some of the rucks and that would've had it's own disadvantages. We perhaps forced a few too many passes when ball retention would've been better, but we weren't too frothy, and I don't feel that a more conservative passing game would've won it for us.

Basically if they could play this game over again I wouldn't really have Henry or the players change a thing. I think his selections were right. We conceded very few penalties, and those that we did concede wouldn't have been penalties under a different ref on a different day. I think even though Howlett had been in great form leading into the game, both Sivi and Rokocoko acquitted themselves well in the match. 9 times out of 10 that game plan would have seen us concede fewer penalties, win some more in our favour, have fewer injuries, have a couple more passes stick, any number of things might have worked out differently. It is definitely hard to imagine things going worse for us in a repeat of that match.

This was definitely different to '99 (where we were outplayed by 20mins of sheer French brilliance). This was different altogether.

This will sound like sour grapes, but I scrutinised the game and in short, no team, no matter how good, can fight a 17 point swing in a match against a quarter final calibre opponent.

Jonathan Kaplan and Tony Spreadbury were objectionable in their officiating as touch judges (especially taking into account the inexperience of the referee whom they should've given every assistance).
Barnes was actually ok in the first half, but had a dreadful second half
Whoever appointed Barnes (was it Paddy?) made a dire blunder giving such an inexperienced ref the job, but the TJs, with their wealth of experience are possibly more culpable.

Six clear, almost totally undebateable mistakes that the ref and TJs made were:

• not penalising the French for hands in the ruck in their own 22 with about 5 minutes to play. This was in CLEAR view of the TJ.
• taking a lineout where the ball was kicked to when the Frenchman who kicked the touch finder had carried the ball back into his 22 prior to kicking.
• resetting a scrum that had been driven through 90 degrees to the team that put the ball in (the French).
• penalising AND yellow carding Luke McAlister for obstruction without even consulting with the TJs at all (even live at the time Luke McAlister didn't look to have done anything deliberately illegal).
• the pass that was thrown to Michalak was not even close to legitimate. This was clear to just about everyone live at the ground at the time except the refs.
• not penalising the French for offside during one of the pick and drive sequences when they were clearly ahead of the hindmost and their presence in the AB backline caused the handling error.

There were other incidents which were debateable, but even the most one-eyed-anti-All-Black person would have a hard time disputing these significant incorrect calls.

Normally these sorts of indiscretions even themselves out over the course of a match, with both teams getting away with plenty. However we played within the bounds of the rules mostly, and were penalised at almost every occasion when we did actually do anything remotely penaliseable. We did get away with a couple of passes that were flat or borderline forward, but neither of these were during a quick break and neither were match-changing miss-calls, and neither of these were clearly shovelled directly forward.

So all-in-all, I just want to applaud the All Blacks who I think were great in that game. Well done also to the French players and fans for being gracious victors. And a lamentation for the state of the refereeing and touchline adjudication.

Perhaps instead of looking at ELVs to encourage running and offloading, the IRB ref panel should be looking at bringing in TMO scrutiny of every incident between the last breakdown and a possible try, and giving coaches a right to challenge decisions during matches in a similar fashion to that which occurs in gridiron?