Here's the first comprehensive analysis I'll have made since the 2004 flat backline controversy in any sort of written form.

I'd first like to say I'm speechless, gutted, still shaking and in morbid disbelief of what has just happened. But I'm also philosophical about the whole thing. I'm young, so I haven't had to live through the devastations of 1991 and 1995 with the same rabid nationalism as I do today and like all of us here on the TSF, I am a student of the game. This is, as I see it, the worst loss New Zealand Rugby has ever faced on the world stage (that bars Munster). This is my honest analysis.

OVERVIEW: Well well, we pretty much won the game on the stats board, but a lack of composure, key mistakes at key times, and an inability to convert pressure into points, combined with almost flawless, canny French defensive performance saw us lose our heads, and yes, I'll say it, admit it, whatever you want. We choked. Big time.

1. SELECTIONS
Alright, we may have all looked at the team sheet and thought "Yipee the most experienced All Black 22 in the history of all time ever ever, we can't lose." But it certainly unfolded differently during the game, and what people saw as sound selections became silly ones. Here's the positions where we lost the game.

................4 Keith
Well, I remember in the first half, while I was still feeling quite confident, thinking good old Keith was being carried by the side. Just seemed too slow and not physical enough. Didn't have a massive impact, but we may have been able to take better advantage of our good first half with more physicality and I think Keith sorely lacked that today.

................9 Kelleher
Started off playing brilliant footy, really liked the way he ran the game. But when the French put the pressure on he reverted back to his old typecast extra loose forward crap that saw us lose a distributer and lose our quick ball. Look at the successes of Gomarsell and, more recently, Ellisalde. Whatever we thought about the physical halfback has turned out to be ballocks. A working brain , big mouth and speedy, accurate hands are what we need in the modern game. I believe that was proven tonight. Leonard was impressive to say the least, while not having a tremendous impact, we regained alot of our composure and I thought for the young guy that he is and for the situation that he was thrust into, he made a damn good fist at it. We really missed Weepu's composure and kicking boots today.

................11 Sivivatu
This was one of two selections that really irked me on the team sheet, despite obvious justifications for his selection, they were presumptuous and really, by principle, silly. It seemed the Cartel underestimated the French, both defensively and offensively, and this is why Sivivatu, the havoc machine, the ultimate nonsense player, was selected. The French would kick kick kick and we would run run run. Except we couldn't break their line. Sivivatu was too high and got isolated on a number of occassions, being stripped of the ball. He was defensively soft and it showed. Howlett was a no brainer for this test and his non-selection just reflects complacency. Stuff "Strike Rates" the Cartel wanted to, and thought they would put 50 on France.
................13 Mils

This wasn't my first choice for the jersey, but it didn't bother me on the team sheet as I thought he was a solid selection. But it is more his selection in combination with Leon MacDonald's selection that took us from behind, up the arse, big time. We had a 10 12 13 of Carter, McAlister and Muliaina. Carter was pinned as the decision maker and go-to man, McAlister was used mainly for linebreaking and offloading, and Milsie was selected purely for solidarity. He was a grey blur in this test. While he did nothing clearly wrong, we needed more brains and creativity in the backline. We put everything on Carter's shoulders. When he went, we'd lost the game. I'd pretty much figured it out by then, but the Nick Evans came on and cranked it up bigtime. Then he went off. Oh woe. But that's to be discussed later. Anyway, Muliaina was wasted at Centre and Leon had an indifferent game at the back littered with general ineffectiveness and sprinkled with a few glaring defensive errors.  Conrad Smith should have started this game. Period. He probably won't last until the next world cup, so I feel sorry for the bloke. He was the man we needed to win the big games. Not Milsie on the principle that he'd played 40 tests. He's played less than Conrad at 13. At any level. Toeava wasn't justified either. We need cool heads, hands and brains in the backs. We traded them all for 'strike rates' and 'experience'. I'm afraid we've fallen victim to NOT PICKING A SPECIALIST 13 AGAIN. And this is easily my biggest woe of the match. That's 3 now. Three world cups we've lost with a fullback playing out of position at centre. I'd have hoped the Cartel would've known better.

................15 Leon MacDonald
Utter shite. Sorry, but his great, slippery running game didn't feature. He kicked decently to poorly and was shoddy defensively. Worst selection ever. Sorry, I'm getting emotional. Must've been writing about Muliaina in the last positional rant. But what can I say, 13 and 15 were once again rooted over sideways by All Black coaching staff.

2. GAME PLAN
Well, what can I say. It was like the Cartel knew how to beat this French game that they prepared for (the French were NOT unpredictable at any stage of the game), but they didn't at all. General strategy without tactical finesse.
It was like World War 1;
Henry: "We know we have to take their trenches, but how do we do it?"
Smith: "Go over the top. We have the best troops. We'll overwhelm them."
Henry: "I agree."
Hansen: "But what about the machine guns?"
Henry: "What's a machine gun?"
This can obviously be attributed to nullifying French work at the breakdown and stalwart defence, but at the same time, we suffered from no Plan B. Well, we actually looked to have several variations of plan A, but all of them didn't work.

3. COMPLACENCY
Ben Tune said "I don't believe in complacency at World Cup Quarter Finals." Well guess what, the two best teams in the Southern Hemisphere have just bit the dust. And we were complacent. Oh yes.
The game plan was complacently simplistic and invariable based on the selections. Mils "Grey Blur" Muliaina was restrictive and slowed down the pace of the line. He doesn't have brilliant acceleration or power, so relies on his footwork, which gets him caught up and unable to throw the next pass. Conrad Smith anyone? Never mind. This obviously also showed in the Sivivatu selection as well.

4. HOODOO
All the hype hurt us. Simple as that. GH has been saying we're going to take home this world cup since he could walk, or at least we're training to. The players were still young, there was alot heaped on their shoulders. You throw them into the middle of a shitfight with a passionate French side, backs to the wall with nothing to lose? Well, always a recipe for disaster. They were worried about choking, and all the badly timed fifty fifty passes, lack of certainty and general indecision meant that we choked. Our own fault. I don't believe in hoodoos and I don't think players do either, but it's a prospect that hurts you from the back of your mind, ties your heart to the ground.

5. INJURIES/YELLOWS
Well, all that great preparation developing extreme depth and we lost our 2 10s. When we lost Carter I thought we'd struggle. We we lost Evans, well, I knew it was all over. But what happened when Lukey went to 10? Everything went to shit. Leonard sat there for 15-30 seconds at a time screaming at Luke as he struggled to set the backline for anything. We lost it. McAlister was a blow, but with the pressure we put on the French straight after he was marched off, we still should've stayed in it. No excuses there at all.

6. FRENCH TENACITY
Yes. Unbelievably. Backs to the wall. Nothing to lose. Their world cup. Dangerous as anything. They always had a shot.

7. THE POOLS?
Now, this probably deserves a better number than 7 on the list. But I forgot to put it in earlier and I can't be bothered to change the numbers back. I find it particularly intriguing that the two teams who smoked their way through their "Easy" pools have come up against top sides who have been tested, slammed by the media and thrown into underdog status when they finished second in their pool, to be outplayed. Improvement comes through mistakes. For the All Blacks and the French, alot to lose and a haunting hoodoo to face plays nothing to lose at all and the pride of their team to regain. The same goes for Australia/England, just without the hoodoo part.

8. FORWARD PASS?
Go to hell. The French deserved the try.

9. CONCLUSION?
We sucked. All the things above, save the forward pass, (because who really cares we've got away with it tens of dozens of times before), contributed to our loss. Especially the poor selection decisions, which are easy to make in retrospect. So, I bring it down to Selection/Game Plan Complacency by the Cartel, too many emotions at once on behalf of the players and a fantastic French performance. Well done France, I hope the celebrations tonight are extra festive. You deserve it.

As for the All Blacks, bring on Robbie Deans. And if he @%$#ing selects a fullback at centre for ANY test matches AT ALL then I will explode. I've not given up on you ABs. I'm still proud of you. The 8 that didn't play... that is.

We're chokers for four more years guys. At least the Aussies are doing it with us this time.

WHO WE MISSED: Conrad Smith, Piri Weepu, Doug Howlett, Chris Jack (early).

WHO WAS GOOD: Rodney So'oialo, Ali Williams, Joe Rokocoko, Brendon Leonard, Nick Evans (for all of about 10 minutes)

MAN OF THE MATCH: Yannick Jauzion

So, now that's done, go the Argies!  This is the Underdog's World Cup.