New Zealand 37-17 France
Matthew Rye
Deputy Sports Editor
Considering the history behind the fixture, one could be slightly underwhelmed at the result. This game had more potential than JF BESS. In 1999, France came back from a 14-point deficit to beat the mighty New Zealanders by twelve, with Philippe Bernat-Salle scoring one of the most iconic tries ever. In 2007, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and a resolute French pack ground out the tournament favourites in a heroic upset. In 2011, Dan Carter and company walked over a lacklustre French side that seemed determined to lose the game.
Israel Dagg, Cory Jane, Adam Thompson and Sonny Bill Williams scored for the All-Blacks, with Carter executing efficiently with the boot to romp to victory 37-17 at the final whistle.
The Haka, as always, was something to behold, and the intensity with which the All Blacks play the game is evident in the somewhat semi-psychosis they seem to self-induce. Their commitment is there for the world to see.
The French are completely opposed to that idea of consistency; there is no knowing which French side will turn up. They are the World Cup wildcards, capable of both winning the competition, and simultaneously capable of crashing out in the group stages.
Knowing Marc Lievremont’s love affair with untested combinations, it wasn’t that surprising to see changes across the board for the French. Morgan Parra started at out-half, and stalwarts Servat and Harinordoquy were left on the bench.
And in typical French style, they surprised everybody by starting at a breakneck speed, with a period of dominance culminating in Morgan Parra’s failed attempt at a drop goal, and Cory Jane performing a suspect mid-air tackle on Damien Traille. Crucially, France failed to leave All Black territory with any advantage.
And it didn’t take long for New Zealand to reply with interest. Ma’a Nonu made a trademark break, beating four defenders in the process and after a quick recycle number eight Adam Thompson, in the side in place of injured Kieran Read, touched down in the corner.
The New Zealand pack began to put the French breakdown under a geothermal amount of pressure. Parra and Yachvili both had clearances blocked, and the French were starting to flounder.
New Zealand swiftly followed with their second try. Following a fantastic set-piece move from New Zealand, scrum-half Piri Weepu received the ball from a lineout and offloaded inside to Cory Jane, who sliced through the French defence and waltzed over for an excellent score. Carter secures the extras to put New Zealand 12-0 ahead with only 14 minutes gone.
New Zealand played themselves into the game well, with Nonu and Conrad Smith cutting them to ribbons, seemingly on demand. More tries were to follow.
Dagg scored a very simple try after Carter fooled two French forwards and dummied his way to a line break, where he offloaded to Dagg, for the All Blacks’ third. Carter converted to put New Zealand 19-0 up, only 22 minutes in, and the French were in total disarray.
The first half performance by France has been a microcosm of Marc Lievremont’s tenure as French head coach. Always entertaining, at times breath-taking, and largely lacking in consistency, cohesion and direction. They failed to attack consistently and lost the ball continuously after contact.
Rugby League convert Williams was introduced on 33 minutes, showing the strength in depth of the All Black squad. Yachvili kicked a penalty before the break as France walked in at half-time trailing by 16 points.
Straight from the kick-off, Williams offloaded in the tackle to Daniel Carter, who broke the French line for the umpteenth time in the match. Nonu and winger Richie Kahui carried on the momentum and eventually Dagg skipped through the suspect French defence to score his second and New Zealand’s 4th, securing the bonus point.
The French continued to play more of the same brand of rugby: dropping the ball, missing lines, and ultimately having about as much penetration as a door. The New Zealanders started to dominate the scrum, which is one area which France would have targeted, naively thinking they might be able to accrue an advantage.
At times the New Zealand attack was completely overwhelming. The three-quarter line seemed to construct attacks with ease and score at will. It’s just wave after wave of Black shirts without reprieve.
For how good the All Blacks are, the French are made them look much better. They continued to have basic defensive errors throughout the second half, missing an outrageous amount of tackles for a professional team.
Largely unimpressive inside centre Maxime Mermoz received a gift in the form an intercept try from a rare errant pass from Daniel Carter, seemingly because the French couldn’t score if they didn’t get help from the All Blacks. Yachvili converted to close the lead to 29-10.
The gift might have be the pump prime that France needed, as everything began to come together more for the French side. However, it also may have been the raft of changes instigated by Lievremont.
As a gentle reminder of what they could do, Kahui and Carter sliced the French defence open again, although this time it was without result as replacement scrum-half Andy Ellis couldn’t gather the pass from the break.
The biggest difference between the sides was that whenever New Zealand attacked, France missed tackles, and New Zealand invariably scored. Whereas whenever France attacked, sparse as those attacks were, they were met by a solid line of black shirts. France had no edge, no creative flair, which is worryingly uncharacteristic for the normally enigmatic Morgan Parra.
Often discussed as an X-factor in the New Zealand game is the ruthlessness with which they attack. An example of this came late in the second half when, leading by 19 points, Carter scored a drop goal when the New Zealand attack stalled, ensuring that they left the French half with points.
Trinh-Duc added a smidge of progressive, proactive thinking for the French, resulting in Servat just missing with a pushover attempt. French manage to construct a series of phases and almost get a pushover try via Servat. Trinh-Duc then nabbed a try after Yachvili’s quick tap penalty on the New Zealand five-metre line.
Just to prove their dominance entirely, Williams scored in the corner after excellent handling play by the New Zealand backline.
Without a doubt a hapless performance by France, the final score line actually flattered them considering how poor they were in basic defensive situations. New Zealand only showed flashes of their brilliance, and there was a mutual feeling that the All Blacks could score on demand.
France will have difficulty convincing anyone that they didn’t throw the game in order to end up in the “Six Nations” side of the draw. If they didn’t, then they won’t make it to the semi-finals anyway so there is no point in Lievremont worrying his pretty little head about it.
