Rennie's All Blacks survive French scare in opener

MATCH REPORT: Dave Rennie’s reign as All Blacks head coach began with a hard-fought 34-32 victory over France in the opening match of the Nations Championship at One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday.

While the result marked the perfect start for Rennie, the performance was far from convincing as the All Blacks were pushed all the way by an understrength but fearless French outfit in a thrilling five-try triumph.

*To recap all the action CLICK HERE!!!

Scrumhalf Cam Roigard and Will Jordan each bagged a brace of tries, giving Rennie plenty to smile about in his first match in charge.

France, who travelled with a weakened squad featuring 11 Bordeaux players but none from French champions Toulouse or fellow finalists Montpellier, showed tremendous quality and piled all kinds of pressure on the hosts.

Les Bleus crossed for four tries and could’ve snatch a famous late victory but the hosts held on to secure Rennie’s first win in charge.

It was an incredible start from Les Bleus, who immediately tested the All Blacks’ defence. Off a line-out, they shifted the ball to the middle of the field and looked dangerous with ball in hand. After a couple of slick passes inside the hosts’ 22, France’s record try-scorer, Damian Penaud, crossed for the opening try within a minute of play.

Maxime Lucu added the conversion before extending France’s advantage with a penalty to make it 10-5.

It was a disastrous opening spell for the All Blacks, who were reduced to 14 men when flyhalf Ruben Love was shown a yellow card for a dangerous high tackle.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the visitors hit back. Captain Ardie Savea’s outstanding work at the breakdown laid the platform for Jordan to dive over in the corner. McKenzie’s conversion drifted wide, leaving the All Blacks trailing by two points.

Defensively, the All Blacks were ill-disciplined, with a series of high tackles disrupting their play.

France, meanwhile, continued to impress on attack, keeping the ball alive through a string of superb offloads and showing excellent continuity.

The All Blacks edged ahead in the 20th minute when McKenzie sliced through the defence before putting Peter Lakai over for the try. Love converted to hand his side a 12-10 lead.

However, the advantage proved short-lived as Les Bleus responded immediately. Sustained pressure inside the All Blacks’ 22 forced multiple infringements, and Lucu calmly slotted the resulting penalty to restore France’s lead at 13-12.

The All Blacks gradually found their rhythm and began to spend more time in the right areas of the field, but a number of costly handling errors prevented them from building sustained pressure. Ethan de Groot thought he had scored, but referee Luke Pearce spotted that he had lost the ball forward in the act of grounding it.

The hosts eventually struck. After setting up a driving maul, Cody Taylor broke away before Roigard sniped and sold a dummy for the try. Love converted to give the All Blacks a 19-13 lead heading into half-time.

Just like the first half, France started the second half in fine form. They built their attack patiently, with Matthieu Jalibert and Theo Attissogbe linking up superbly before Antoine Hastoy crashed over for the try. Lucu added the conversion to hand France a 20-19 lead.

The advantage was short-lived as the All Blacks showcased their impressive interplay, with Jordie Barrett and McKenzie combining brilliantly before Roigard crossed for his second try. Love added the conversion to extend the lead to 26-20.

France then created another golden opportunity, but Fabien Brau-Boirie failed to gather Jalibert’s cross-kick.

Moments later, the centre thought he had his try after scooping up a loose ball and beating two defenders. However, TMO Marius van der Westhuizen and referee Pearce ruled that Max Spring had knocked the ball on in the build-up, and the score was ruled out.

The hosts remained patient on attack and were eventually rewarded when Attissogbe crossed in the corner after France worked the ball wide following sustained pressure. Lucu was unable to convert, leaving Les Bleus trailing by just one point after 60 minutes.

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The All Blacks finally worked their way into France’s 22 after spending much of the second half pinned inside their own territory. They earned a penalty, and Love calmly slotted the straightforward kick to stretch the lead to 29-25.

The hosts added further breathing room when Will Jordan finished off a well-worked team move to make it 34-25.

But with less than three minutes remaining, Les Bleus refused to go away. They launched one final attack, and Jalibert powered over replacement Cortez Ratima to score. Antoine Hastoy added the conversion to cut the deficit to just two points.

It was a tense finish, but the All Blacks held on as Love booted the ball into the stands to seal a hard-fought 34-32 victory.

Player of the Match: Theo Attissogbe and Matthieu Jalibert were outstanding for Les Bleus, with the flyhalf particularly unfortunate to miss out on the award after an influential display. Pierre Bochaton was relentless at the breakdown and produced a series of crunching tackles, while Ardie Savea delivered two crucial turnovers to keep the All Blacks in the contest. However, our nod goes to Cam Roigard, who controlled the game superbly from scrumhalf and capped off his performance with two well-taken tries to inspire the All Blacks to victory.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries: Jordan 2, Lakai, Roigard 2
Cons: Mckenzie, Love 2
Pen: Love

For France:
Tries: Penaud, Hastoy, Attissogbe, Jalibert
Cons: Lucu 2, Hastoy
Pens: Lucu 2

Yellow card: Ruben Love (New Zealand, 2 – dangerous high tackle)

Teams: 

New Zealand: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Ruben Love, 9  Cam Roigard, 8 Ardie Savea (Captain), 7 Luke Jacobson, 6 Peter Lakai, 5 Sam Darry, 4 Josh Lord, 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot.
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Tyrel Lomax, 19 Jamie Hannah, 20 Wallace Sititi, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Billy Proctor, 23 Fehi Fineanganofo.

France: 15 Max Spring, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Theo Attissogbe, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Lucu (captain), 8 Marko Gazzotti, 7 Oscar Jegou, 6 Pierre Bochaton, 5 Tom Staniforth, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Demba Bamba, 2 Maxime Lamothe, 1 Jefferson Poirot.
Replacements: 16 Barnabe Massa, 17 Reda Wardi, 18 Regis Montagne, 19 Mickael Guillard, 20 Killian Tixeront, 21 Nolann Le Garrec, 22 Antoine Hastoy, 23 Nicolas Depoortere

Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Katsuki Furuse (Japan)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)