France [Images] woke up on Sunday looking for the right words after their always unpredictable rugby team tamed the awe-inspiring All Blacks to advance to the World Cup semi-finals.

"Immense" screamed a headline on the front page of sports daily L'Equipe, while Le Parisien chose "Giant" and Le Journal du Dimanche "Enormous", a popular French word for anything really special.

A concert of car horns saluted the win in Paris and there were partying scenes all through the night in the French capital.

Saturday's 20-18 win against the supreme entertainers in world rugby in Cardiff revived memories of another famous win over the same opponents, in the 1999 World Cup semi-finals at Twickenham.

"Some matches make you feel a thousand years older, with tension added to fear," wrote L'Equipe in a front-page column.

"Other matches make you feel eight years younger, with history becoming the stuff of legends."

The newspapers immediately switched to the next step in the tournament hosts' campaign.

"Rendezvous with England [Images] on Saturday at the Stade de France," wrote Le Parisien, already looking forward to a semi-final clash against opponents France have beaten twice in warm-up matches.

"So French", it read, which suits a team with a record for improbable achievements.

As in 1999, France moved to the brink of defeat before recovering their famous flair with perfect timing. Trailing 13-3 at the break, they ran it two tries in the second half and then resisted bravely under sustained pressure from the 'men in black', wearing grey on the day.

SCEPTICISM NEEDED

France had made life difficult for themselves, losing to Argentina in the opening match, which is why they had to face New Zealand [Images] so early and away from home.

There had been a lot of criticism of coach Bernard Laporte's tactics and many doubted France had what it took to knock out the overwhelming favourites.

"A dose of typically French scepticism was needed to wake up the pride of 30 champions and rekindle the flame of passion," wrote L'Equipe.

By putting up a great fight in Cardiff and showing glimpses of brilliance, France held on to their dream of becoming world champions at home, nine years after their soccer team did just that.

"Heroic Blues make the whole of France dream," read a headline in Le Parisien, which picked a picture of a beaming Yannick Jauzion down on his knees with the ball under his arm after he scored France's second try.

L'Equipe selected a picture of flanker Thierry Dusautoir, who scored his side's first try and was outstanding throughout, charging through the New Zealand defence.

Le Journal du Dimanche arguably chose the image of bearded lock Sebastien Chabal planting a kiss on the shaven head of flyhalf Frederic Michalak. Both came on in the second half to give France a new lease of life.

French newspapers admitted the quality of the match had not been great but that the result was what mattered.

"There will certainly be prettier matches than this one but not many will be greater," wrote L'Equipe.