Replay watched.
AB defense in the first 30 minutes set this up for them. Real venom. Add into that, they had pretty much every fucking pass stick. Man they were switched on. One scrum in the first half? Ridiculous! Particularly in light of their last few weeks (Georgia game - ay ay ay!).
The other part of the victory was varied tactics - Nonu looking for grass with the boot, Carter looking for aerial contests. It left the French defensive line hesitant.
France hit back nicely and weren't that far away for the first 30 minutes, really, and I'd like to place a lot of blame for the halftime margin on their useless Fijian blindside winger: caught in no-mans land on Savea's first try, then getting bumped for trying to tackle a bus around the shoulders in the next. Spedding also guilty of that.
Showed that both of them were worried very early on about the offload instead of just doing their job i.e. putting a bloke on the deck, and making the offload the next bloke's problem.
France's hopes ended in the 7 minutes just after halftime. In the 43rd minute after Fofana's break, Aaron Smith tackles in a subsequent move, 5 out from the line, and lands directly on the French side of the ruck.
Have seen refs call that straight away (e.g. Clancy) this tournament, and even Owens in that game when Wyatt somehow injured his groin flopping onto a Frenchman at ruck time in a nothing ruck.
Two French forwards are there to clean out but they can't get over him quick enough to beat McCaw (and I think Moody?). A French fan could feel slightly aggrieved at this turn of events, given the momentum they had and the position on the field.
A few minutes later, Picamoles stupidly used his fist, that would have been nothing otherwise. What he actually did isn't any worse than an open hand, but you can't knuckle someone like that.
Retaliation should be dealt with harshly, and it was a reasonably good decision in the end (though again, we've seen worse get away with less). Would have been good if Owens fronted McCaw at the same time about offside/holding/on deck and let him know that the professional fouls aren't going to fly, before talking to France about the fist and then letting the game carry on in the manner it did.
Two huge decisions in the space of 4 minutes - partly due to French stupidity / inaccuracy, partly due to good gamesmanship by the ABs. The tiny bit of the momentum France had was killed, their best forward gone for 10, and a 16 point deficit they can't reel in with Parra at half. At the same time, Pape goes off and they lose some beef into the deal.
Could they have come back with another try? I don't think so, because they simply had no answers for the AB defensive line. If they had Kockott out there earlier, maybe. But ultimately France lost this for the same reason England lost: their domestic competition doesn't prepare them for the fitness and decision-making required at a level near the All Blacks.
Also they were playing into the ABs hands - they kept attacking wide, inviting McCaw to turn over ball, instead of getting some pick n go in close to see whether the ABs wanted to play tight. And no short kicking game to slow the defense either. Might not have made a difference, but something needed to change.
The whole game, the ABs were making those good decisions at ruck time - mostly just fanning out, then on the odd trip the French made across the advantage line, doing what McCaw calls "winning the shoulder battle" after making the right decision to contest or leave.
Its superb to watch as a neutral, because you think you're doing alright, hanging onto the ball, then look up and still see 13-15 black shirts ready to tackle.
If the French had a few more forwards with the guile and work rate of Dussatoir, they'd still be competitive. But whatever has happened from their grassroots up, they're simply not producing players who look like they want to work hard.
Speaking of working hard, it was good (and a little scary) see Savea look like someone who had been told they were on their last chance. Running hard and straight like he stole the ball and everyone else was a copper.
Everything else about other players has been said elsewhere, but I'd like to give Ben Smith a special mention for some of that aerial shit coming in from the wing. Just took everything going, under some real pressure too. France were getting opportunities to set play up around halfway off some of those kicks, but simply couldn't beat him in the air.
