Much of the media hype across the ditch and in France in the lead-up to New Zealand's match against Italy had labelled it a "must-win" for the All Blacks – as if they stood any chance of losing.
Having not lost to Italy in the 16 matches prior, and piling on at least 42 points in each of the five most recent clashes, New Zealand were never going to lose, were they?
It seemed the hangover from their Rugby World Cup opening loss to France had lingered in the minds of some who still doubted the men in black, even after their demolition derby against Namibia.
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"The World Cup felt strange sitting on the sidelines for the past two weeks while things were happening – and it seemed the longer we weren't playing, the worse we got if you read the media," head coach Ian Foster said after his side's enormous 96-17 win over Italy on Saturday.
"Funnily enough, we kind of believe in what we're doing."
Foster, ever dry in his humour, took a couple of stabs at the coverage in the week leading up to the match.
"Sometimes you guys lose a bit of imagination with some of your headlines I think," he joked.
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However, if there was one thing he was willing to concede, it was that he didn't expect the match to be so one-sided.
New Zealand scored 14 tries to Italy's meagre two for a scoreline that more resembled a cricket scorecard for the lion's share of the match.
"We have a lot of respect for Italy, like I said before the game. I didn't see that game coming to that extent," said Foster.
"I'm not sure too many people did. It was probably a combination of us playing really well and starting well and I think we took their hope away in that first 20 minutes.
"Maybe they started to think a little bit about they've got another bullet to fire next week against France.
"If they beat France, they knock France out of the competition if we beat Uruguay, so there are a few do-or-die games all over the place.
"It was a performance we wanted this week, that's all I'm going to call it," he added.
"People created a lot of panic about your chances and all that sort of stuff, particularly after we lost the first one (against France).
"The critical game for us in this pool was always going to be Italy. We had to play well in this game. There was enough evidence to show that if we didn't play well and if they performed well as they have been performing this year, it was going to be a heck of a tough game.
"We were good enough to take that away from them, so we were very satisfied with that. We have to do the same next week because the same applies. Do the maths and next week's also equally important.
"It certainly means we put ourselves in control of our own destiny and that's where we want to be and put some pressure on some other teams who have still got some tough games coming up.
"Look at Ireland. If Scotland win two games then Ireland can miss out. It's a tough World Cup."
And what chance does Italy have over France? Perhaps as much as they had against New Zealand.
From their 47 matches, just three have been won by Italy in 1997, 2011, and 2013.
That's not to say it's impossible. France only just edged out Italy in their Six Nations clash this year, 29-24.
They'll go head-to-head October 7 in what will be their respective final Pool A matches.
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