Congratulations to the All Blacks!

France 7-8 New Zealand. That’s the scoreline that ends 24 years of hurt for the All Blacks. It was hardly a pretty match, it could probably be inferred from the scoreline that it was very attritional. New Zealand never trailed, but it was a bad handling error that led to France’s try. They had a very fraught last ten minutes in which they had to work hard to stop France and not concede a penalty inside their own half. It would have been a little bit more comfortable, but the All Blacks only got three points from kicks out of eleven attempted. (It was worse for France, who only got two from eleven.) France played well, they fought harder than I or a lot of people expected. New Zealand were the better side though and just about made it count.