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Magne: 'New Zealand are the best team in the world'

France tour captain Olivier Magne described New Zealand as “the best team in the world” after they completed a comprehensive 61-10 win over his side in Wellington.

The All Blacks ran in nine tries as they secured a record victory over Les Bleus at the Westpac Stadium.

“We’re very disappointed to lose by so many points today, but it is all preparation for the World Cup and I hope we will be on time for this competition,” Magne told Sky Sports.

“They’re the best team in the world and it’s always very hard against them. You know you can’t give anything when you play at this level.

“It’s a very impressive team we played tonight.”

Counterpart Richie McCaw was delighted by the performance, which he considered a step up from the 42-11 first Test win in Auckland seven days previously.

“That was a heck of a lot better,” he said. “We put the acid on ourselves this week and we had to take a step up.

“Our performance tonight, I’m very happy with it. Our defence showed the right attitude right from the start and we fed off their mistakes, got the ball when we needed to and put them under pressure.

“That’s what got us going and we kept it up for 80 [minutes].”

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