[ZenGum]

New Zealand 8 France 7.


Ooooh that was close.


The French were really good, expansive attack, ferocious defense, nearly took the game. The All Blacks were tenacious but - like Australia last week - were too keen to kick the ball away and missed a lot of kicks at goal. The AB try was very nice, although the French failed to defend their line-out properly.

What impressed me most about this tournament was the sportsmanship. There was no dirty violence like eye gouging or biting or even high tackles, no open fights, only a tiny bit of pushing and shoving outside the actual game. There was virtually no diving - I saw one French guy fall theatrically last week, but the ref had none of it - and the only hint of time-wasting tonight - French guy being slow to get to a line-out - was immediately penalised.

Go you All Blacks, eh?!