New Zealand retained the number one ranking in the world when they smashed France 39-12 in their final Test of the year at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille on Saturday, and in doing so also reclaimed the Dave Gallagher trophy that the French won from them in June.

But the most empathic aspect of this win is the five-tries-to-none margin - ensuring that the All Blacks retain a clean sheet, with no tries scored against them throughout their year-end tour.

They may have lost four Test matches this year but they ended their season on a real high with another highly successful November tour.

It was a huge triumph for Richie McCaw and his team after the disappointment of the loss to France at home in mid-year and their below par Tri-Nations performance.

Their attacking play stretched the French defence time and again and the five tries they scored were a reward for wonderful skill and continuity. Their defence was tight too and although France attacked with conviction a number of times, they were unable to breach the All Black defence of their goal-line.

Those predicting an All Black defeat perhaps neglected to recall New Zealand's record in recent years on their November northern hemisphere tours.

While the Springboks have often not found the northern hemisphere November Tests easy going, the All Blacks have an enviable record. They have now not lost since their 28-31 defeat to England in 2002 and this win over France takes them to 19 consecutive victories.

They have not conceded a try in an end-of-year northern hemisphere Test since 2004 and they have now scored 72 tries since 2004 in their November Tests against the Six Nations countries and conceded only 10.

The only major concerns for the All Blacks will have been that they lost two of their six scrums and conceded 11 penalties to the five conceded by France. But their ball retention, especially when they set up rucks, was excellent, and their use of possession was at times masterful. Their skills level was exceptionally high.

In the first scrum of the game the French had the All Black pack under pressure and the visitors were penalised for standing up as they were pushed backwards. Julien Dupuy's penalty goal put France 3-0 up after three minutes.

The All Blacks hit back in the eighth minute when they won an attacking line-out and a long pass from Dan Carter gave Sitiveni Sivivatu the chance to race between opposite number Vincent Clerc and full back Damien Traille to score unchallenged. Carter converted from far out to put New Zealand 7-3 ahead.

After the All Blacks were penalised at a ruck and then at the following line-out, Dupuy slotted a second penalty goal to reduce the lead to 7-6 in the 16th minute.

The home team went ahead 9-7 in the 19th minute when New Zealand were penalised for not binding at a scrum and Dupuy goaled from 50 metres.

But the All Blacks hit back with a glorious try in the 23rd minute when, following a French attacking kick, they counter-attacked from inside their 22 and Conrad Smith and Sitiveni Sivivatu set up Mils Muliaina for his 25th try in his 82nd Test. Carter's conversion flew wide of the posts.(12-9)

Five minutes later Carter stretched the lead to 15-9 with a penalty goal after a ruck infringement and then showed his vision and brilliant skills with a perfectly placed chip-kick which Nonu collected on the bounce.

The assault on the French goal-line was stopped just short but from the resulting five metre scrum, the All Blacks had the French pack reeling backwards and Jerome Kaino had only to put his hand on the ball for the visitors' third try. Carter converted to increase the lead to 22-9 after 34 minutes.

A drop-goal by Francois Trinh-Duc in the 36th minute kept France in the game at 22-12.

Dupuy had a chance to reduce the lead early in the second half after a period of French pressure but his penalty attempt was wide.

In the 52nd minute France were penalised at a ruck and Carter raised the flags with his second penalty goal of the evening. (25-12) Richie McCaw was then penalised twice in succession at rucks by referee Alain Rolland but Dupuy again missed a penalty which he would have expected to goal.

The All Blacks came close to scoring another try when Carter again chipped neatly, collected himself and sent Muliaina away, but their continuity let them down and they couldn't finish.

Just inside the hour, Carter continued the magic show with a dummy inside and then used his feet to break the line but when he off-loaded, the All Blacks were pinged for not releasing and there was temporary relief for France.

A Carter drop-goal attempt hit the cross-bar but from the French counter-attack off the rebound, Cory Jane scored a superb try in the 63rd minute as he picked up a wayward pass, handed off Yannick Jauzion, chipped over the goal-line and raced through to collect and score himself. Carter converted. (32-12)

In the 71st minute Conrad Smith scored what may well be the easiest try of his career when he picked up the ball emerging from a ruck inside the French 22 and ran down the narrow, undefended blindside to score with no defender near.

After an unpleasant scuffle broke out among the players involved in the ruck and the captains had been asked by referee Rolland to speak to their teams, Carter converted to put the All Blacks way out of reach at 39-12.

"We're building a little bit of momentum and hopefully on Saturday we'll get out there and explode," said Mils Muliaina during the week's build-up and his wish certainly came true.

If they continue to play next year as they have on this tour, and especially as they played against France, the All Blacks will take some beating.

Man of the Match: Richie McCaw was as effective as he always is. Conrad Smith showed that he may be, along with Brian O'Driscoll, the best 13 playing rugby today. Sitiveni Sivivatu and Cory Jane had wonderful moments. But even they could not outshine the master magician. There are a few excellent No.10s in world rugby, players of special skill, and Dan Carter may well be the very best of an impressive group of great players. Again he was exemplary in his passing, kicking, defensive organisation, running skills on attack and decision-making. In a team of All Black stars tonight, Dan Carter's performance was again absolute class.

Moment of the match: New Zealand enjoyed an evening with more than a few special moments, but the Moment of the Match must be the counter-attack from deep inside their half which led to Mils Muliaina's try.

Villain of the Match: Nobody

The scorers:

For France:
Pens: Dupuy 3
DG: Trinh-Duc

For New Zealand:
Tries: Sivivatu, Muliaina, Kaino, Jane, Smith
Cons: Carter 4
Pens: Carter 2

Yellow card: Owen Franks (New Zealand, 77 - foul play, shoulder charge at ruck)

Teams:

France: 15 Damien Traille, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 William Servat, 1 Fabian Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Julien Puricelli, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Yann David, 22 Cedric Heymans.

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Owen Franks, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Tanerau Latimer, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Luke McAlister.

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)