PREVIEW: New Zealand v France
THE SECOND TEST: New Zealand’s shock loss to France at the 2007 World Cup continues to burn deep with the All Blacks drawing on the defeat as motivation for the second Test in Wellington on Saturday.
The world champions expect a French backlash after last week’s first Test thrashing and said the 18-20 defeat in the World Cup quarterfinals 11 years ago had taught them never to underestimate their mercurial opponents.
It condemned the All Blacks to their earliest exit at a World Cup – just four months after they had beaten France 42-11 and 61-10 in a two-Test home series.
That, according to head coach Steve Hansen, is why last week’s runaway 52-11 over France in Auckland was no indication of how the second Test will pan out.
“We worked that out in half-an-hour sitting despondently in a changing shed in Cardiff,” Hansen said Thursday after naming an unchanged side, referring to the 2007 game.
French coach Jacques Brunel has made five changes and while he downplayed the chance of an upset he said Les Bleus “will not make it easy” for the All Blacks this time.
“We want to win, but first it will be necessary to stem [the All Blacks attack].”
In a loose-forward shake-up, Brunel has rushed Kelian Galletier and Mathieu Babillot into the starting line-up, replacing Judicael Cancoriet and Fabien Sanconnie, while Kevin Gourdon, who started on the flank in Auckland, moves to No.8.
Galletier and Babillot were late arrivals in New Zealand after playing in the Top 14 Final between Castres and Montpellier, along with Benjamin Fall, who takes over the fullback role from Maxime Medard.
Gael Fickou comes into the side for injured wing Remy Grosso, who suffered a tour-ending double facial fracture in the first Test.
“We made big mistakes [last week]. We cannot do that against the All Blacks,” Brunel added.
However, Hansen said he was trying not to read too much into last week’s result.
“One of the big lessons we learned [in Cardiff] was that if you don’t plan for the unexpected then you’re going to get smacked by it and ever since that day we’ve always expected the unexpected to happen,” he said.
“Whilst it was a painful moment in All Blacks history, particularly for the people involved in it, me being one of them, I think that game has had a significant bearing on what’s happened since.”
New Zealand have played 138 Tests since that fateful day, winning 120 including two World Cups for an 87 percent success rate.
The losses include being beaten by France the next time they met, in Dunedin two years later, but they have won all 12 clashes since.
Despite New Zealand’s dominance over the past nine years, Hansen believed France would take confidence from being ahead until early in the second half in Auckland, before the All Blacks scored two tries while lock Paul Gabrillagues was in the sin bin.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the yellow card and how that changed the game and I think they’ll think they’re in the fight, so they’ll come with plenty to play for and we’ll have to step it up a notch or two,” Hansen said.
“They’ll try and slow the game down. That’s the pace they want to play at and we want to play full bore with accuracy. That’s our challenge.
“If it comes off it doesn’t matter who you play, when you play that game well you can rip anyone apart.”
Players to watch:
For New Zealand: New Zealand has the best flyhalf in the world in the form of Beauden Barrett. He constantly makes good decisions on attack and he is lethal with a little amount of space. Wing Rieko Ioane showed last week what a machine he is out wide and there a is a good chance he will be on the try-scoring list once again. Captain Samuel Whitelock was a force up front at Eden Park and he led by example, while Codie Taylor continues to cement himself in the No.2 jersey.
For France: Captain Mathieu Bastareaud can be handful in the midfield, while Teddy Thomas is one of the fastest players in world rugby. Scrumhalf Morgan Parra has a lot of experience and will play a key part in the decision making at the back. Kevin Gourdon said the All Blacks are cheats ahead of Saturday’s match and he might have a huge target on him for some big hits.
Head to head: Rieko Ioane dominated his personal dual with Teddy Thomas out wide in Auckland and it will be another interesting battle in Wellington. The battle between the halfbacks is always intriguing and Anthony Belleau and Morgan Parra will have to produce phenomenal performances to outplay the world’s best in Beauden Barrett and Aaron Smith.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1-D4sGt1Zs
Recent results:
2018: New Zealand won, 52-11, Auckland
2017: New Zealand won 38-18, Paris
2016: New Zealand won 24-19, Paris
2015: New Zealand won 62-13, Cardiff (World Cup quarterfinal)
2013: New Zealand won 26-19, Paris
2013: New Zealand won 24-9, New Plymouth
2013: New Zealand won 30-0, Christchurch
2013: New Zealand won 23-13, Auckland
2011: New Zealand won 8-7, Auckland (World Cup Final)
2011: New Zealand won 37-17, Auckland (World Cup pool match)
Prediction: We still can’t see this French team beating the All Blacks in New Zealand. The All Blacks will take this one by 15 points.
Teams:
New Zealand: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Scott Barrett, 4 Samuel Whitelock (captain), 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Harris, 17 Karl Tu’inukuafe, 18 Ofa Tuungafasi, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 Thomas Perenara, 22 Damian McKenzie, 23 Ngani Laumape.
France: 15 Benjamin Fall, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud (captain), 12 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 11 Gael Fickou, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Kevin Gourdon, 7 Kélian Galletier, 6 Mathieu Babillot, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Bernard le Roux, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Dany Priso.
Replacements: 16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Paul Gabrillagues, 20 Alexandre Lapandry, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Maxime Médard.
Date: Saturday, June 16
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 19:35 (09.05 France time, 07:35 GMT)
Expected weather: The temperature will drop to around 10°C around kick-off time. It will be partly cloudy with strong gusts.
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: John Lacey (Ireland), Luke Pearce (England)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)
@rugby365com & Agence France-Presse
