You must be choking!

The All Blacks have imploded on the biggest stage yet again, losing 18 – 20 to a spirited French side in the quarterfinals of Rugby World Cup 07.

New Zealand – 18 [Tries: Luke McAlister, Rodney So’oialo. Conversion: Dan Carter. Penalties: Carter (2)] – France 20 [Tries: Thierry Dusautoir, Yannick Jauzion. Conversions: Lionel Beauxis (2). Penalty: Beauxis]

What they said

Jock Hobbs (NZRU Chairman)

“We’ll have a new All Blacks coach in place by Christmas.”

Bernard Laporte (France Coach)

 “Congratulations to the players, who faced heavy criticism after their defeat by Argentina. This was their reply. We are not world champions yet but we want to be.

“We have just beaten the tournament favourites. It’s fabulous. This victory belongs to the players who sweated it out until the last second.

“Bravo to all the players. After losing the first match to Argentina, we suffered a lot of things but tonight the response was there. We beat a great team and we want to go further.

“We didn’t want to play the game here in Cardiff but we had to because we lost our first game. We had to pick ourselves up and get ourselves back in the World Cup. The players reacted with a lot of determination. They didn’t want to die today. This team really showed a lot of guts because we weren’t playing in France.”

Fabien Pelous (France Lock)

“I was thinking this could be my last match but it will not be. I hope there will be two more. We’ll do everything for that.

“It was really difficult because we were up against a team with exceptional individual talent. We concentrated on the simple things, gaining territory, defending.”

Richie McCaw (NZ Captain)

“We had dreams of what we would do today but we got beaten by a better team.

“The pain in the guys’ eyes and their body language sums it up. Some of them have just probably played their last game for the All Blacks and that hurts as well it’s hard to put it into words but there are some pretty shattered guys as you would have expected.

“I think in the first half perhaps we got lulled into playing a little bit of aerial ping-pong.

“We didn’t settle and didn’t get our set piece to play the game we were after. At halftime we came in and said we need to go up a level and score first and get the pressure on and we didn’t do that.

“We had a guy in the bin and perhaps got a little rattled there and then the French lifted and playing against a good team you can’t let them get on top like that. We did well to claw back and score a try but hell, if I had the answer we would have sorted it out and I think I will be thinking about that for quite some time.

“We were ready we knew what we were in for. A lot of the guys have been through this experience before.

“We knew the French would be up for the game. We have played big test matches with less rugby so I don’t think that was a factor. We went out there to play our best but perhaps we were not allowed to play out best against a good French team I guess the rest is history. You can have a whole lot of excuses but I have to say I think the boys were ready to play we just didn’t put it out there.”

Graham Henry (All Blacks Coach)

“I have not really thought about (my future) to be honest.

“I just feel for the guys and they have put in a huge amount of time and preparation into the tournament. So I feel for them and their close families that are here and our supporters I don’t think this is the time to think about my future. I think people will judge how they want to judge.

“I don’t think it’s for me to tell people how they should judge me. I feel comfortable that we have done as much as we could to win this cup as an All Black side so that’s up for other people to judge.

“We had a late territorial advantage in the second half but didn’t quite finish it so I guess that was our Achilles Heel from the All Black point of view.

“From the French point of view I thought they defended superbly. They certainly defended with a huge amount of passion and fire and it was a different French side from what we have played in recent times and they deserve a huge amount of praise for the passion and desire they played with.”

Steve Hansen (All Blacks Assistant Coach)

“What people outside the team need to understand is how disappointed they feel … and they will be gutted because they really, really wanted this team to win the World Cup.

“But if they could just pause when they are feeling gutted and think that the people in that shed back there are feeling about 10,000 times more gutted than they are. Some of those guys have just played their last game for the All Blacks and that will be the last memory they will have and they are hurting.

“But we just have to get over it, stand tall and be proud New Zealanders, whether that be fans, players or management and get on with it and wait for the next time we get an opportunity.”

Byron Kelleher (All Blacks Scrumhalf)

“I said to the boys at halftime we were in the situation in ‘99 and the French came out and came over top of us so I said don’t let it happen again.

“So we were aware of what they can do but it didn’t help having 14 men and I am devastated with the result. It’s a painful way to go out. I have sacrificed the last 10 years of my life to win a World Cup.

“Sure I have great memories of being in the All Blacks but I have never been able to reach the pinnacle and like all New Zealanders at the moment I am suffering mate and it breaks me. I have to deal with that and move on but it hurts something chronic.”

Raphaël Ibañez (France Captain)

Talking about the French decision to stand mere inches away from the All Blacks while they performed their haka, he said:

“We took the decision three days ago. We weren’t trying to indulge in provocation – we have a lot of respect for the haka. But by nailing our flags to the mast, we wanted to show how proud we were of wearing our country’s colours.

“I believe that every time you play New Zealand you have to play out of your skin and that’s what happened this evening. This will remain with me for the rest of my life.”

The New Zealand View

Check out what the All Black fans are saying HERE (Hint: blaming the ref, blaming the backline)