France 43 New Zealand 31

A massive 23 second half points from French fly-half Christophe Lamaison gave Les Bleus the biggest upset victory in World Cup history at Twickenham.

The French -- Wooden Spoonists in this year's Five Nations Championship -- had been slated at 15/2 for a victory in the World Cup semi-final but overcame the odds to progress to next Saturday's final at Cardiff thanks to a momentous 43-31 victory.

Down by seven points at half-time, France were even further under the cosh when Lomu took a short pass from Jeff Wilson and dived in for his second try of the match.  Andrew Mehrtens converted for a 14-point lead to the Kiwis.

There then followed a massive glut of French points, a 26-point spree which included two drop goals within two minutes from the mercurial out-half, standing in for the injured Thomas Castaignede.

For periods during the first half, France had the Kiwis rattled, none more so than when two kicks ahead became tooth-and-nail contests on the goal line.  Either could have resulted in a try for Les Bleus.

Dominici kicked the first from 40 yards out and Garbajosa gave chase but, as he chipped forward again, he gave the ball too much, putting it over the dead ball line.  A kick from openside Olivier Magne from the 22 was even closer.  Referee Jim Fleming ruled that Jeff Wilson had touched the ball down in his own goal, although television replays showed that he had in fact still been in the field of play.  A 22-metre drop out saved All Black tension.

In fact, in a half when the normally reliable Mehrtens missed three penalties and a conversion, the main difference between the two sides was Jonah Lomu, who in a trademark move in the 23rd minute, took the ball wide and broke at least four attempted tackles, and even side-stepping a couple to boot, to put his side 14-10 up.

Lamaison's try had put the French ahead just five minutes earlier, a break from Dominici being brought to a halt just in front of the posts by Kronfeld.  A quick ball out saw the fly-half go over.

The killer blow for the French, though, was when, with seven minutes to go, Bernat-Salles dived on a kick ahead for the fourth try for his side.  With the score 24-36 in favour of the French, the World Cup favourites could still have snatched victory.  The All Blacks were pressing for minutes on end but, as the ball went down the backline once more, Magne popped in for the interception.  He kicked and ran, as if his life depended on it.  In the end, Bernat-Salles was just too speedy for Wilson, nudging with the boot and then falling on the ball for the score which nailed the Kiwi coffin firmly shut.

All Black coach John Hart was under no illusions after the game.  "We just made too many mistakes and the French capitalised," he said.  "I hate to think how many balls we dropped today."

Even if they right those mistakes on in the third-place match against South Africa on Thursday, it won't be remotely enough to erase the despair that must be felt throughout the land of the long white cloud.

The Teams:

France:  1 Cedric Soulette, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Abdelatif Benazzi, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Marc Lievremont, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Christophe Juillet, 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Emile Ntamack, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Xavier Garbajosa
Reserves:  Olivier Brouzet, Arnaud Costes, Pieter De Villiers, Stephane Glas, Ugo Mola, Stephane Castaignede
Unused:  Marc Dal Maso

New Zealand:  1 Craig Dowd, 2 Anton Oliver, 3 Carl Hoeft, 4 Robin Brooke, 5 Norm Maxwell, 6 Josh Kronfeld, 7 Reuben Thorne, 8 Taine Randell (c), 9 Byron Kelleher, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Jonah Lomu, 12 Christian Cullen, 13 Alama Ieremia, 14 Tana Umaga, 15 Jeff Wilson
Reserves:  Daryl Gibson, Justin Marshall, Kees Meeuws, Royce Willis
Unused:  Andrew Blowers, Tony Brown, Mark Hammett

Attendance:  73000
Referee:  Fleming j

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 1, Dourthe R. 1, Lamaison C. 1, Dominici C. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 4
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 3
Drop G.:  Lamaison C. 2

New Zealand
Tries:  Lomu J.T. 2, Wilson J.W. 1
Conv:  Mehrtens A.P. 2
Pen K.:  Mehrtens A.P. 4