The All Blacks broke an unwanted record this morning, losing a pool game at a World Cup for the first time ever.
Some poor discipline and errors saw France run away with the game late in the second half to claim a 27-13 victory.
All Blacks captain Ardie Savea said post-game the errors let the team down.
"We looked dangerous when we had the ball but we just let ourselves down.
"I think in that last 20 [minutes] our discipline let us down. We weren't clinical enough in our own half and they punished us. We never got scoreboard pressure and when time's running out you might try a little bit hard and things just didn't go our way tonight.
"We lost the battle tonight but we've still got a war to win."
Coach Ian Foster said there were positive signs despite the result.
"We created some good opportunities I thought - we started well and played the up-tempo game we wanted to but that second half they played a tight game, were able to slow it down and got on top of us a bit and we just couldn't get out of our half.
"I think we got a bit frustrated when a couple of things happened - I thought we became victims in areas we needed to control a bit better.
"I actually thought there was a whole lot of good stuff there but they're a big team, they're a good team. In that second half I thought they just controlled the ball and the territory and just squeezed us."
Speaking on Sky's broadcast coverage, former All Black Israel Dagg said the team kicked the ball away needlessly in the second half and looked poor around the ruck.
"We lacked discipline. We got absolutely pumped," a dejected Dagg said.
"Around the ruck is where I saw a lot of concerns. We fell off a lot of tackles, especially in the second half around the ruck area. That's our heart, that's the heart of the team. If you see teams getting broken around the heart, around the ruck, that can be pretty deflating."
French No.8 Gregory Alldritt had a superb game, and said afterwards he was "proud to be French".
"It was a massive game for our team today and I am proud to be French tonight.
"The support was massive and it is just fantastic to get support like this. We are just looking forward to the next game but we said if we lost today it is not the end of the World Cup.
"But we are not champion now so we just have to keep working and go step by step."
Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick said there were reasons to be positive.
"France didn’t let us down. They absorbed the pressure early on. The All Blacks had four or five chances to score in the first half but France held them out. The All Blacks had enough in that first 40 minutes [to be encouraged]," he said.
Former All Blacks first-five Andrew Mehrtens said all was not lost for the All Blacks, pointing to the history of teams losing a pool game.
"We have seen teams do it before and reach the final having lost, with England in 2007 and France came within a whisker of winning it in 2011 when they lost two pool games.
"Of course New Zealanders are going to take any possible consolation out of it but they won't be happy with their second half, so they will look at that performance."
Sonny Bill Williams was optimistic despite the defeat.
"As my uso @ardiesavea said “we lost the battle tonight, but we haven’t lost the war”. Head up all blacks supporters we are still In the fight," the World Cup winner posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Wallabies flanker Michael Hooper, who was surprisingly left out of the World Cup squad, had some heavy praise for France.
"They're the real deal. They have done it with pressure on and they have come out and done it against one of the best teams in the world. Being in that pressure and being in that cauldron and delivering for 80 minutes (is impressive).
"They stuck to their game for 80 minutes. Super impressive," Hooper said.
Kiwi actress Lucy Lawless was up and watching the game, but felt despondent by the result.
"The @AllBlacks first line out to 1:36 was shriekingly good. But I can’t help feeling kindly towards any Frenchman called JellyBear!" she wrote on X.
Meanwhile, the French were in full force celebrating the victory, taking to the streets around the country.
There were some famous supporters watching on from the Stade de France too.
French footballers Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Jules Kounde, and Theo Hernandez were on hand to support their rugby counterparts.
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