@African-Monkey 2007 was less of a choke than 2019/2003/1999 because the All Blacks dominated the French. They had an overwhelming 73 per cent territorial advantage, winning 166 rucks to France's 42 and making only 73 tackles compared with France's 331. We dominated the contest yet we were not awarded a single penalty in the last 70 minutes of the game.
2019 we lost solely because of own our fault - no external factors involved.
As for 2007, there is no doubt the referee had a huge impact on that game. Let's be honest, if it was refereed fairly then we would have won (the statistics suggest comfortably). I don't believe that is biased or conjecture but rather the facts of the situation.
It was extraordinary (and unprecedented) that a team who spent three quarters of the last 50 minutes of a match defending, much of it within their own 22, could do so without being penalised even once. Not even a free kick or an advantage call. Ted's suggestion that Wayne Barnes was too inexperienced to be refereeing a match of that magnitude, and that he essentially folded under pressure, was also correct. It was clear and obvious to anyone watching the game that he was refereeing only one side, and completely ignoring material offences by the French that were occurring right in front of him.