France fly-half Frederic Michalak has revealed his pessimism over his team's hopes of conquering New Zealand in their World Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
The All Blacks have lost only three matches since winning the tournament four years ago and are on an eight-game winning streak against the French, their best winning sequence against the French for 47 years.
New Zealand coasted through its pool stage, while France struggled at times in their first three matches and lost the pool decider to Ireland 24-9 last weekend.
"They're the best team in the world and have the best players in every position. On paper they're the strongest side, but if we have that two per cent chance we'll take it," said Michalak, who has 76 Test caps.
"To win against New Zealand, you need to have a lot of quality, a strong set piece, a good scrum, a perfect lineout.
"You need defence like you've never had before. You must go everywhere on the field and defend with your heart."
Michalak, a veteran of the France side that reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2003, has fond memories of the Millennium Stadium.
After coming on as a replacement in the 2007 quarter-finals, it was Michalak who passed to flanker Thierry Dusautoir when France rallied from a 13-0 half-time deficit to beat the All Blacks 20-18 and reach the semi-finals again.
His international career dipped after that, and he was overlooked by previous coach Marc Lievremont for the 2011 World Cup.
But since being recalled by Philippe Saint-Andre he has gone on to become France's record scorer with 436 points and its record scorer in World Cups with 136.
"For me to play my last World Cup my dream will come true only if I'm world champion," added Michalak, who plays in the French Top 14 league for Toulon and paid tribute to England great Jonny Wilkinson for helping his late development as a kicker.
"Jonny worked hard with us. He had a lot of influence on us when he became a coach at Toulon," Michalak said. "It was a good thing for me to work with him."