Some defeats stay with you your whole life.
Former All Black fullback Mils Muliaina has certainly been reminded of that this week.
He is part of the Sky team providing commentary for the series between New Zealand and France and his colleagues have had a bit of fun at his expense recently.
Muliaina made 100 appearances and scored 33 tries for his country during a sparkling international career. But not every game in the black jersey went to plan.
June 13, 2009, started like most other days in the All Blacks’ camp. They were playing the French that night at Carisbrook and like always there was a huge expectation the home team would produce a quality performance and deal to what was an under-strength French side.
France, of course, has a history of taking unexpected detours from the script. Despite missing half a dozen leading players, who had stayed home to play in the French club final, the visiting side outplayed the All Blacks to win 27-22.
Nine years later Muliaina is still explaining what happened that night.
It was his first game as captain and he got a dud deal in some respects. All Black great Richie McCaw was sidelined with a knee injury and classy first five-eighth Dan Carter was also missing. It was also just two weeks after Muliaina’s Super Rugby side, the Chiefs, had been smashed 61-17 by the Bulls in the final in Pretoria.
"There has been a lot of talk about the All Blacks camps during the Super Rugby campaign [this season] but when I look back at that game we didn’t have much preparation at all," he said.
"Because we had limited preparation we weren’t as well equipped and having key guys out was a big factor ... and perhaps we still played a little bit of Super Rugby-style football.
"We thought maybe they wouldn’t be able to keep up with that [style] but that wasn’t the case.
"We were outplayed by a very good French side that night."
The French found a way to tap into their emotions and started with a ferocity the All Blacks could not match.
They shot out to a 17-3 lead. The All Blacks rallied and got back on level terms. But the turning point came when Luke McAlister flipped a pass and French fullback Maxime Medard intercepted it and ran 70m to score with about 10 minutes remaining.
"What I’ve learnt over the years with the French is you have to match that emotion. You can’t just expect to turn up because that is what they are going to bring," Muliaina said.
"You look at the 2011 World Cup. We played them in the pool round and absolutely annihilated them, yet they came out and perhaps deserved to win the final.
"All they seem to need really is a couple of brilliant moments and before you know it they are back in the game or actually winning it. That is what makes them such a hard team to play."
The All Blacks have made a raft of changes for tonight’s game and are perhaps vulnerable. But Muliaina is confident the home side will lift its effort from the second test and sweep the series.