Unfamiliar shirts, unfamiliar setting, but a cracking occasion and a brilliant advertisement for the Rugby World Cup. An often turgid first half was quickly forgotten when the contest exploded into life after the break and New Zealand, having led 13-0 just before half-time, were hauled in and eventually overtaken by a rampant French team.

The best bit was that they did it by playing like Frenchman – eventually. Having kicked the leather off the ball before the break, they began to play rugby, at times thrilling rugby. Typically, it was Frederic Michalak, coming off the bench, who provided the critical pass for Yan-nick Jauzion’s match-winning try, thus confirming New Zealand’s status as world-class chokers and completing a magnificent day and highly improbable day for the northern hemisphere. The prematch scene in the Welsh capital was strange, to say the least.

This is France’s World Cup, yet Les Bleus’ quarter-final was played in Cardiff after the French failed to win their pool and there were clearly many more black shirts than blue on the streets and pouring out of the pubs. Mixed in was a smattering of green – slightly bewildered Irish folk who’d booked on the expectation that this would be their quarter-final too. There was even an impassioned rendition of The Fields of Athenry midway through the first half. Throw in the complication of an English win earlier in the afternoon and the poor Welsh didn’t know who they were rooting for.

The game? Much of the first quarter was anticlimactic after all that, not helped by the lengthy treatment carried out on the unfortunate Serge Betsen who was helped off after colliding with Joe Rokocoko, to be replaced by Imanol Harinordoquy. This beefed up the French lineout – and it’s not as though they needed any further encouragement to kick for position.

The limit of their ambition was evident from their first meaning-ful foray into New Zealand territory. While Jauzion made decent headway up the middle of the park and produced reasonably quick ball, it was preordained that Damien Traille wold drop back into the pocket for the drop goal. He missed.

New Zealand looked vulnerable in those early minutes, with Dan Carter hesitant and Byron Kelleher having to deal with some sloppy presentation from the lineout. They were also afflicted with the kicking bug, with Leon MacDonald ignoring one two-man overlap near halfway in favour of hoofing down-field. Even when they began to get their recycling going, some of the passing was sloppy, allowing the French to put in some frightening hits in the middle of the park.

It was in this part of the field where the had the edge, however, specifically in the shape of Luke McAlister. His chip-and-chase led directly to the penalty which allowed Carter to kick them into the lead and in the following five minutes, the burly centre took control of proceedings.

First, he left Lionel Beauxis floundering with a devastating step inside – a break that should have resulted in a try for the supporting Jerry Collins had McAlister not tucked the ball under his arm. It still might have been a try had Ali Williams not stepped into touch while lunging for the left corner.

But McAlister wasn’t finished yet. Having taken another exquisite line off a pass that looked suspiciously forward from Carter, this time he managed to find Jerry Collins on his inside. The flanker then returned the compliment with a delicious one-handed off-load in contact and McAlister had the momentum to crash through Raphael Ibanez’s tackle. Carter’s conversion made it 10-0 in the 17th minute.

It was the highlight of what was frankly a dull 40 minutes rugby. Much of this was down to France’s rigidly limited tactics, which revolved mainly around putting boot to ball, chasing hard and hoping for a break. The high ball won them a penalty on 25 minutes but Beauxis was wide. That miss was compounded when Carter made the most of Thierry Dusautoir going offside at the ruck at the other end, stretching the Kiwis’ lead by three.

New Zealand were far from impressive – Carter was blessed to get away with his cross-kick to Sivivatu across the 22. France had more of the territory but were frustrated in their attempts to turn it into points. Their fans whistled derisively as yet another Traille long ball rolled over the dead-ball line, then whistled again as Jean-Baptiste Elissalde pushed another penalty to the right of the posts. It was only in first half injury time that Beauxis finally put them on the board with a penalty, giving them a sliver of hope.

It was enough. Given field position by the counter-attack-ing of their wings, they scored first after the break thanks to McAlister’s indiscipline – by taking Jauzion out off the ball, he went to the bin, while Beauxis kicked the points.

Having weathered some retaliation, France soon cashed in on their extra man. Vincent Clerc and David Marty almost put Harinordoquy in at the right corner but two phases later, Clerc’s delightfully delayed pass put Thierry Dusautoir through a hole. Beauxis’s conversion went over.

Both coaches introduced fresh legs but it was Brendon Leonard, on for Kelleher, who had the immediate impact, probing around the fringes to set up a typical lunging try for Rodney So’oialo early in the final quarter. But the French weren’t finished yet.

Once Traille and Michalak combined to put Jauzion over, all it took was Elissalde’s conversion to complete New Zealand’s misery.

Star man: Vincent Clerc(France)

New Zealand:L MacDonald (Canterbury); J Rokocoko (Auckland), M Muliaina (Waikato), L McAlister (Auckland), S Sivivatu (Waikato); D Carter (Canterbury, N Evans (Otago) 56min, I Toeava (Wellington) 71min), B Kelleher (Waikato, B Leonard (Waikato) 56min); T Woodcock (Auckland), A Oliver (Otago), C Hayman (Otago, A Hore (Wellington) 56min), K Robinson (Waikato, C Jack (Canterbury) 50min), A Williams (Auckland), J Collins (Wellington, C Masoe (Wellington) 63min), R McCaw (capt, Canterbury), R So’oialo (Wellington).

Yellow card: New Zealand:McAlister (46min) Tries: McAlister 17, So’oialo 63 Con: Carter. Pens: Carter (2)

France:D Traille (Biarritz); V Clerc (Toulouse), D Marty (Perpignan), Y Jauzion (Toulouse), C Heymans (Toulouse, C Dominici (Stade Francais) 70min); L Beauxis (Stade Francais, F Michalak (Toulouse) 68min), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse): O Milloud (Bourgoin, J-B Poux (Toulouse) ht), R Ibanez (capt, Wasps, D Szarzewski (Stade Francais) 51min), P de Villiers (Stade Francais), F Pelous (Toulouse, S Chabal (Sale) 51min), J Thion (Biarritz), S Betsen (Biarritz, I Harinordoquy (Biarritz) 5min), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), J Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne).

Tries: Dusautoir 54, Jauzion 69 Cons: Beauxis, Elissalde. Pens: Beauxis (2)

Referee: W Barnes (England). Attendance: 71,700