McCaw's men ready to end our nightmares

On the evidence of what I have seen so far, I seriously doubt Richie McCaw's men are suffering sleepless nights over the likely prospect of meeting France in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. But let's not tempt fate.

For most All Blacks supporters, France are the stuff of nightmares. The try "from the end of the earth" at Eden Park in 1994, the 1999 inspiration at Twickenham they burn in the memory.

So the prospect of facing France at any time during this tournament brings understandable anxiety.

But, without trying to appear smart, my knees aren't exactly playing cymbals over the quarter-final challenge. Nor do I think the All Blacks themselves will be daunted.

After watching France closely, including yesterday's grinding win over the Irish, I'm beginning to wonder if this team is actually capable of producing the French flair we all fear.

Bernard Laporte has brought improved structure and defensive systems, but he seems to have coached the flair out of them.

The conservative way France now plays rugby under Laporte is at odds with what fans have come to expect from Les Bleus.

If we're going to encounter France in this tournament, now is the best time, as they struggle with form and confidence and must cope with a quarter-final in neutral Cardiff.

Their game against Ireland didn't rise to any great heights but there were a couple of incidents adding fuel to the fire about how the game is being refereed in terms of containing physicality.

The spate of first-round match suspensions caused plenty of comment, including by our own Jerry Collins, who said he hoped the game didn't become so sanitised that he no longer wanted to play it.

Then we had Michael Jones expressing his concern that the physical tackling style of his Samoan players is being legislated out of the game.

Michael is not given to making statements lightly, which is why his comment to the effect of "if this keeps up, I'll tell my son to play rugby league" should be heeded.

I'm not sure what the answer is.

Yesterday, Ireland's David Wallace was penalised for standing on Sebastien Chabal at a breakdown. Shortly after, French captain Raphael Ibanez did the same and was pinged.

Both times the player did not aggressively stomp or jump down on his opponent. In fact, all they did was place their foot on them just as if climbing a step. But that was enough for the ref and touch judges to act.

My old team-mate AJ Whetton was rolling his eyes. But both incidents were unnecessary if at the minor end of offending. You have to be fair to the refs. They're being assessed and if they miss what are later deemed to be illegalities, it can affect future appointments.

Yet I can't help feeling we're taken something intrinsic out of the game by not allowing rucking.

There are so many people off their feet at the breakdown these days that sometimes it's hard, if not impossible, not to put your feet on players. If we allowed some good old-fashioned rucking, you would probably find less people lying around.

Being rucked is not a pleasant experience and the lawmakers probably had that fact in mind. It was a deterrent to keep players motivated to stay on their feet.

Against that, I also accept the game has to be conscious of its image.

Between matches, AJ and I have been guests of Tourism Ireland.

On a visit to Clontarf rugby club, we were asked if we wanted a "Jerry Collins". Unsure, we said yes. The barman duly poured a couple of pints of Guinness, and commented: "Big and dark, blond on top and it's got a bit a substance, too".

I think Jerry would like that.

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