France turned their RBS Six Nations’ form on its head with a classic victory over New Zealand at Carisbrook, Dunedin. It was their first win in New Zealand since 1994 and only their fourth in all which amply reflected the deeds of the day for captain Thierry Dusautoir and his players.
The result will send shudders of doubt through New Zealand because France beat them in the World Cup quarter-final in Cardiff in 2007 and it is a fair bet that some of those who shuffled away in silence from the Millennium Stadium that evening would have witnessed this fresh disaster. The only excuse is that New Zealand were missing some of their key players.
France scored after three minutes, added two tries in the first half to lead 17-11 at the break,and survived the All Blacks’ pressure in the second half, especially in the final ten minutes.
The French defence was outstanding all the way through and prevented the All Blacks implementing anything like a winning game plan. Of course the home side could claim that the absence of Richie McCaw and Daniel Carter, among others, meant they had to experiment and there will be now be a frantic search of mind and material to put things right against the same opposition at Wellington next Saturday.
Julien Dupuy set France on the road with a penalty which Stephen Donald matched after 12 minutes. But France quickly raised their game after 18 minutes with fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc showing great strength and skill by scooping up a dropped ball from Ma’a Nonu to make the first try.
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The second French try had much more ambitious routes with Louis Picamoles driving hard up the touchline to release the backs who used their pace and width to head for the line and send hooker William Servat through.
That put France in command after almost half an hour and when the All Blacks came back with some more serious counter- attacks they dropped a pass and then found the French defence resolute when they did hold on to the ball. But Donald’s second penalty and a try by Liam Messam created by Cory Jane’s strong running from defence meant there were six points in France’s favour at half-time.
Donald showed they at least he could match Carter’s strike rate with two penalties in the first sixteen minutes after half-time which levelled the scores. The All Blacks then brought on Luke McAlister who has been moved into their squad at pace after leaving Sale Sharks. But France kicked a penalty through Dupuy and their final try came when full-back Maxime Medard intercepted a pass by McAlister to run into open country and score under the posts.
New Zealand scored a try by Ma’a Nonu with five minutes left but no amount of pleading for a win from the crowd was going to crack French determination. They had brought on Sebastien Chabal early in the second half and his talismanic approach to the whole historic business meant that no one in a French shirt would be found wanting.
As Dusautoir said: “Sure, our defence was good, but we scored three tries. We will enjoy this and then prepare for next week.”
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New Zealand: Muliaina; Rokocoko, Toeava, Nonu, Wulf; Donald, Cowan; Woodcock, Hore, Tialata, Thorn, Ross, Read, Thomson, Messam. Replacements: Mealamu, Afoa, B Evans, Latimer, Weepu, McAlister, Jane.
France: Medard; Heymans, Bastareaud, Traille, Clerc; Trinh-Duc, Dupuy; Barcella, Servat, Marconnet, Pape, Millo-Chluski, Dusautoir (captain), Ouedraogo, Picamoles. Replacements: Szarzewski, Domingo, Chabal, Martin, Yachvili, Jauzion, Palisson.
Referee: G Clancy (Ireland)