The All Blacks failed to turn their clear superiority into points, writes  David Kirk.

The All Blacks did not play badly, but they did not play well enough. For long periods of the quarter-final loss to France they played better rugby than any other team in the competition is remotely possible of playing. Their ball retention, their pace and audacity was often a joy. That they couldn't turn this into points and a comfortable victory was testimony to the sustained intensity of the French defence and their own inability to stop trying to create the perfect form of rugby and just win.

It is unbelievably frustrating to review this match. The All Blacks scrum was clearly superior to the French. The lineout functioned well and the continuity play was excellent. Byron Kelleher played as well as I have seen him play. Daniel Carter in the first half was all class, making the right decisions, kicking well, firing out his flat passes, putting Luke McAlister into the gap for his try. Jerry Collins, Richie McCaw and Rodney So'oialo clearly outplayed their opposite numbers and, while they had few real opportunities, the outside backs did all that was asked of them. No one played badly. If no one plays badly in a great All Blacks team they should win. But they didn't. The glory of sport.

It is not fair to quibble about selections after a match like this. Who knows what other players would have done in the same circumstances? However, to my mind, the rotation policy has not worked the way the coaches and selectors would have liked. For all the endless hours of training and honing of different combinations, some simply work better than others. Some players gel in a way that means the pass sticks or the gap is found or the better decision is made.

With the margin of error so fine at World Cups, it is the team management's responsibility to find those combinations and stick with them. I am old-fashioned, and really a long way from the intensity and nuances of professional rugby, but I think playing the best team regularly is important. It is possible to have too much talent.

France certainly played well. They brought a simple game plan and a lot of heart. They picked a fullback who could kick the ball back and a forward pack that would compete everywhere. They were particularly effective on their feet driving lineouts and mauls and in stifling the All Blacks' midfield. Perhaps most impressive of all was their lack of mistakes. They were under the hammer time and time again in the second half and they held their nerve. No penalties, no cheap points.

It is a shame that the match turned on refereeing decisions. Wayne Barnes's decision to show McAlister a yellow card for checking Yannick Jauzion and his missing of the clear forward pass that led to France's final try determined the outcome of the match. The players deserved better.

But the All Blacks always knew they would be refereed more closely than other teams. It comes from setting the pace. If you are doing things faster and better than other teams, referees will always be looking to see if there is some judgment they can make on this seemingly superior ability.

In the end, the All Blacks' only real failure was in their collective lack of capacity to kill a match stone dead when ahead. No doubt this is a lot harder under modern laws than it used to be. And for this All Blacks team we may well ask, is it a failure to want to stop playing? Can it ever be a failure to want to embrace a style of rugby that is nerveless and to aspire to play a game that is beyond what has gone before? The answer is no for gods and yes for men. In Cardiff, the All Blacks gods became men.

David Kirk captained the 1987 World Cup-winning All Blacks.