New Zealand, it seems, have already won the World Cup. Bookmakers are paying out to those who backed the All Blacks and the media verdict here can be summed up in a two-word front page splash: Moody Bleus.
Hubris is in the air and it provides France with their best hope on Sunday. When the All Blacks were knocked out of the World Cup by France in 2007, suffering not just another failure in the tournament but missing out on the semi-finals for the first time, the New Zealand Rugby Union ordered an independent inquiry to determine what had gone wrong and what should be done to ensure it did not happen again.
One of the conclusions was that "the All Blacks appear to perform badly when the New Zealand rugby public are overconfident of the result – examples are the last three World Cups. When all around are messages that the team will win easily, does the team subconsciously look past the game and, therefore, fail to mentally prepare adequately?"
They have never been so fancied as this week. They are at home, playing the final on a ground where they have never lost an international in the professional era, they are the only side that have not been beaten this tournament, their opponents were downed by Tonga last month and France are in such disarray that their media conferences are invariably a rally of insults between the coach, Marc Lièvremont, and his players.
The setting could not be better for France, who have the best record of countries other than New Zealand at Eden Park. They seem to have believed they were being guided by destiny all through their tournament: when they lost to the All Blacks in the group stage last month, their reaction was that it was asking the impossible to beat them twice in a tournament they were hosting.
While not admitting they had not wanted to win the pool game, they accepted they did not mind losing. "We would prefer to lose to the All Blacks today, when we are still in the tournament, than in the final," said the scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili, one of the reasons why New Zealand should not get ahead of themselves.
France have played only one match when they have not been criticised for their performance: they wobbled against both Japan and Canada before finishing strongly, lost to New Zealand and Tonga, put away England with a strong first-half display and were clinging on to a one-point lead against 14-man Wales in the closing 20 minutes of the semi-final.
They have exhibited little of their traditional French flair, they have as a squad seemed so dysfunctional as to make the Rugby Football Union look an exemplar of good governance and it will be Lièvremont's last stand before he makes way for Philippe Saint-Andre.
It is hard to look beyond a New Zealand victory, but they are playing their World Cup nemesis: France knocked them out of the 1999 and 2007 tournaments and for all the talk about how they are unworthy finalists, they have a pack to compare with most this tournament, settled combinations in the front, second and back rows; and they have Yachvili, who is ensuring his team play in the way of Biarritz, kick, chase and tackle.
For a team renowned for their indiscipline, France have been focused this tournament. When Wales went down to 14 men after 18 minutes, the temptation would have been to look to exploit their numerical advantage by trying to stretch Wales; instead they kept it tight, kicked for position and minimised risks. It worked, just, but it was the opposite of the stereotype of French rugby. Yet it was very Biarritz.
It is irrelevant whether a team deserve to be in a final. A knockout tournament rarely ends in a meeting of the two strongest sides, as the history of the FA Cup shows. New Zealand are invariably the top ranked team in the world at the start of a World Cup, but the last winners of the tournament to beat them on the way were South Africa in 1995.
This is not a vintage New Zealand side and it is not, as was the case when the All Blacks won the inaugural tournament in 1987, markedly superior to all the other contenders; just better. They have makeshift half-backs with the outside-half Aaron Cruden third choice behind the injured Dan Carter and Colin Slade, while the scrum-half Piri Weepu seemed the third choice in the pool stage when he started just one of the four matches.
Yet he has become a cult hero here after his goal-kicking displays in the knockout stage, a barrel-shaped half-back who does not quite fit the prototype of a modern athlete. He has made the shortlist for the International Rugby Board's player of the year, a slate that seems to be based in no small measure on who is going to be around in Auckland on Monday night.
New Zealand, unlike the other World Cups in the professional era, have played knockout rugby this year, drawing the fire of Argentina and hitting Australia hard and early. They have even dropped goals and they are, along with Wales, the most impressively coached side here. Their pack is strong up front, resourceful in the lineout and clinical at the breakdown.
The NZRU's decision to reappoint Graham Henry and his two assistants after 2007, rather than react with the usual jerking of knees, was rewarded by last weekend's semi-final victory over Australia, a night when the All Blacks could have been clouded by emotion given whom they were playing and the presence of a New Zealand and former All Blacks international and coach in the opposition dugout, but they had a killer-eyed clarity from the opening whistle and maintained it.
Their focus this Sunday has to be on the occasion, the final, rather than an opposition that this week seem to have hammed up the supposed differences between the coach and his players. It has felt staged and theatrical; tantrums and tears. An elaborate web is being woven but surely the All Blacks will be too fly to get trapped in it.
Much has been made here about France's failure in their previous two World Cup finals to back up their semi-final displays, but whereas in 1987 they had defeated Australia in a rousing match in Sydney and in 1999 made an astonishing second-half comeback against New Zealand at Twickenham, this year they limped over the line against Wales.
If France are truly a team of contrasts, they will be unrecognisable from last week. In which case, Henry and his All Blacks cannot indulge in premature celebration. And there is no sign that they are.
