We didn’t choke. But certainly gagged a little. And for the New Zealand All Blacks, it came down to a single point that separated our highly anticipated world championship from another ghastly four years in rugby wilderness.
Thankfully for 30 All Blacks plus 4.2million Kiwis, that single digit fell on the host nation’s side of the ledger.
The lowest scoring and smallest margin grand final in RWC history, every ounce of All Blacks might and willpower was spent repelling a valiant French XV that very nearly pulled off the ‘mission impossible.’
French Captain Thierry Dusautoir was epic. As the arrowhead of France’ formation in response to the All Blacks cut-throat haka, his impenetrable defense inspired 14 countrymen to answer every question asked of them.
Except one, a lineout breach on the 15th minute that led to the All Blacks solo try; Tony Woodcock the surprise finisher of a meticulously planned attacking lineout – a surprise in so far as the French were concerned, and most definitely the bookmakers.
Dusautoir’s nemesis Richie McCaw was equally inspiring. By the 70th minute New Zealand’s captain had run himself into the ground, seemingly held together only by tape and bandages.
Raw courage and dogged determination saw him through the remaining minutes. His departure unthinkable with this life-defining match in the balance.
And remarkably, for some 56-minutes of this grand encounter, McCaw’s burden was shared by the most unlikely suspect, fourth string first-five Stephen Donald. Donald’s call-up came when Aaron Cruden hyper-extended his knee in the most awkward of movements.
It was a cruel blow for Manawatu’s little man, the third member of Carter’s cursed No. 10 club in as many weeks.
So Donald was thrown into the fiery furnace in Cruden’s undersized jersey riding routinely up to his bellybutton. If Donald was surprised to take the field, he was doubly surprised to be lining up the crucial penalty goal. And that’s because the usually calm and collected Piri Weepu was unraveling by the minute, having squandered three penalty attempts and a conversion.
Meaning the hopes of the nation rested squarely on Donald’s shoulders. By his own admission, he hadn’t kicked a goal for at least six weeks. It hardly mattered because his kick was flawless. And so was his 56-minutes.
Weepu’s wayward boot was also the offending party for the freakish French try.
His flippant fly-kick found its way into French arms, unleashing a miniature French revival akin to that of 99 and 07.
The outcome? That man Dusautoir scoring at the base of the posts – the host nation aghast. Francois Trinh-Duc added value with the conversion to bring the French within a whisker of the All Blacks lead, 7-8.
Weepu’s woes compounded with an overcooked kickoff that afforded the French a scrum restart with options left and right. Graham Henry reacted immediately, replacing Weepu with Andy Ellis to see out 25 nail-biting minutes till fulltime.
What a horrendous final quarter, 4.2million New Zealanders forced to endure a Francois Trinh-Duc penalty attempt that was willed away from the posts to preserve their First XV’s one-point lead. Either that or Trinh-Duc buckled under the pressure. Likely the latter.
Not to be perturbed, the French kept coming hard and fast. Wave after wave was met with staunch All Black resistance, which had clearly defaulted to defense-mode to see the match out.
And so they did. Eight All Black forwards plus the watchful eye of Conrad Smith sealed the ball in their innermost parts to suffocate time with only seconds remaining. The tactic forced an inevitable French infringement. Referee Joubert awarded the penalty, making the final act in clearing to touch a mere formality.
Triumphant embrace and jubilant cheers rang out from the players and into the stands. 20 years of Rugby World Cup baroness and bitter defeats appeased in that piercing blow of the fulltime whistle.
Said victorious coach Graham Henry immediately afterwards:
“This is something we’ve dreamed of for a while. We can rest in peace now. I’ve just got so much respect for what the boys have done over eight years. It’s been outstanding.”
Dreamed of for a while? Make that 24 years Graham. It is the fulfillment of the fantasy for the coach, the captain, the players and an immensely proud rugby nation.
And yes – peace and tranquility – for at least the next four years anyway.
For this grand finale, victory didn’t come by our poster boys like Israel Dagg, Cory Jane and Richard Kahui. But who cares.
Winning ugly has never felt so good!
sturugbymad
Guest
The WC is at last over and Richie's men can be proud about their efforts.It's time for McCaws achievements to be felt throughout the team , which it will.The success that's been enjoyed by this rugby great can ironically be credited to Deans and Crusaders management that has proven such a backbone to NZ teams in the past.With Read set to take over in the future the platform and transition should be a smooth one.We look ahead to some future stars to grace the global playing fields ..... Shields , Cane , Braid , Whitelock(jnr) , Lanscombe , Blydendaal , Barrett , B.Smith , Todd ,Freuen , Romano,Guilford. Congratulations to the journalist who posted the article pre WC about the stat that all NZ cup failures happened because of a no.13 not playing in their normal position..... you were bang on the money mate! Conrad Smith made a huge difference (altough didn't have a great final) and please all future AB coaches don't play 15's , 10's or wings at 13 in world cups! ................ and have a least 5 goalkickers in the squad otherwise we will age another 10 years in 2015!
thurl
Guest
With games of this magnitude you're walking a fine balance between giving too much latitude and not enough. There will be plenty of people saying he let too much go, but I liked the fact that the game was there for the players to win or lose. You didn't see the players gesticulating much, which says he made the calls that mattered to them and let them sort out the rest. Part of an article in the NZ Herald written by kelvin Deaker, a former inernational ref
Heavyd
Guest
Mike I am doing my best to believe the spitting, abuse and bad sportsmanship on display against everything Australian during this World Cup was done by the ugly minority of Kiwis but I am being challenged reading some of these comments.
thurl
Guest
Thats alittle generous for Ali don't you think...
warrenexpatinnz
Roar Guru
Gday Chuck, Personal slurs need to be stamped out regardless of national colours. If anyone thinks I have made a slur of which I seriously doubt, then I apologize but think throughout this RWC we have seen enough of the ugly side of fans so think it is about time we start educating people on fair play.
Geoff Brisbane now California
Guest
Hey Louis 4 more years buddy just suck it up and sleep well
dc
Guest
The French back row played out of their minds and the team passed the ball 145 times..Sacre bleu! And your result was one lucky offside opportunist try....Their outside backs never got close to the try line. Therefore, the All Black defense was terrific. The French also ran dummy runners into the midfield channel, flopped over the rucks and did some thuggish work in the tight... They also played cynical rugby to slow the Welsh down and beat England only thanks to defensive lapses out wide. You were lucky the Poms were that bad...They got smacked by the All Blacks in the pool game and lost to TONGA! Anyone here believing the French team are the new messiahs of rugby are getting badly suckered....
Louis
Guest
Ah you Kiwis are a curious bunch, please do enjoy your world cup but please know that you were not the better side yesterday, and that craig joubert won you the game. Enjoy your tainted world cup :) Completely agree Frog, France were robbed by the Ref and the illegal Mccaw.
frog
Guest
Daniel carter medal should be given to joubert he did more in this wc for nz
frog
Guest
I think we do it everytime from now on others teams should too ,our culture in no respected so why we respect ,i think all world think throat gesture no respect it is start fight most nations ,i remember original haka people all nations like more proud ,dusautoir maybe wish all blacks had warrior like this man maybe he should do your war dance it would look more scare than your little man weepuu ,you have no player like this i think ,player best on field and world player of year ,he play better than your mccaw ,one try each one kick each ,i know we play more real rugby than nz in match ,we have allways played best run game ,beautifull rugby ,if you rule best ten trys in history maybe 7 be ours no
Tui
Guest
France got fined because they crossed the halfway line during the Haka. They can do anything they want as long as its in their own half. A very simple and clear IRB directive that all teams know about.
Mike
Guest
I'm choking for a different reason after that one...
frog
Guest
I think this haka is a challenge we challenge we get fined ,i think crazy this rule ,what are you need rule to protect your team not brave enough
Mike
Guest
Heavyd, meet Chuck, our resident kiwi troll!
Mike
Guest
"childish name calling and personal attacks all the time" - hmmm, I wonder who that would describe...?!
frog
Guest
How can our captain be best player on match and we lose ,he is open flank he dominate though we dont win decisions ,and we are fined for our team to walk on haka ridiculous ,our captain walk upon this haka like a man why we cant do this ?why is all blacks more special right than other nations it not fair
Chuck
Guest
Ah Louis the scoreboard would say otherwise. It really doesn't matter sweet FA if you play all the rugby have the posseion and territory if you don't do anything with it. The best team scores the most points, it doesn't matter when or how you score those points as long as you can score more than your opposition before the 80mins is up. After all that is the absolute aim of a rugby match to score more points in the match than your opposition within the time frame allowed. Stop being such a pathetic poor sport.
Chuck
Guest
Will be 16 years between drinks by the time the next WC comes around
Chuck
Guest
lol you got schooled and that is all you can come up with?
Roy
Guest
Can't agree with that. He gifted the french field position and possession which lead to their try with that ridiculous kick off the deck. Then booted the kick off out on the full which consilidated the french momentum. In such an incredibly tight game, it's usually bad decisions and poor execution like that loses games. Henry did the right thing.