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| Codie Taylor scoring a try for All Blacks v France and Les Bleus flanker Pierre Bochaton. |
Following a 43-17 victory for the All Blacks over France in Wellington on Saturday, here’s our five takeaways from the tour clash at Sky Stadium.
The top line
The All Blacks will hope that they have well and truly ended their Wellington curse as they won their mid-year series with a game to spare following a dominant victory over France. After a triumph over the Wallabies in their previous match in the capital, which ended a six-year winless streak, they managed to claim another positive result at Sky Stadium.
Head coach Scott Robertson will equally be happy as to how New Zealand found their clinical edge after the struggles of the first Test. They touched down six times on Saturday, with the hard work very much being done by the forwards.
Les Bleus’ fast start stunned in Dunedin, but this time it was the All Blacks who controlled matters early. A penalty got the scoreboard rolling before a nicely worked set play resulted in Cam Roigard scampering away to score.
Robertson’s men would not look back from that moment and further tries from Ardie Savea and Codie Taylor put them in complete command. They then put together the move of the match, which resulted in Tupou Vaa’i crossing the whitewash and giving them a 29-3 advantage at the break.
Although France were better in the second period, going over through Joshua Brennan and Leo Barre, the All Blacks also managed to add to their tally with Will Jordan and Rieko Ioane touching down.
Power-packed All Blacks
New Zealand dominated the scrum last weekend but France were otherwise competitive in every other facet up front. However, it was a complete reversal in Wellington as the hosts’ front-row failed to get the upper hand, but Robertson’s outfit dominated elsewhere, getting on the front foot in maul and in the gain line battle, while they also caused problems for the French lineout.
Codie Taylor enjoyed a fine game at hooker but it was the back five of the scrum who were the stars of the show. Patrick Tuipulotu and Fabian Holland formed a fine lock combination, with the former carrying with sheer ferocity and the latter wreaking havoc in the set-piece and around the field.
The loose trio also looked balanced. As ever, Ardie Savea was a ball of energy and was proving difficult to stop in the loose, but this weekend he was ably supported by Tupou Vaa’i and Christian Lio-Willie. Vaa’i was a real presence in the lineout and also showed both his physicality and breakdown expertise, while Lio-Willie also had some excellent moments at the contact area.
France simply had no answer to the All Blacks’ forward eight as they were regularly sent into reverse, particularly in the maul. Two tries came directly from drives and it effectively took the game away from the visitors in the opening period. Les Bleus’ replacements improved things after the break but, by that point, it was too late.
Direct All Blacks
Robertson has talked about playing with tempo and pace but, let’s be realistic, on the evidence of the first two Tests, the game plan has not veered too far away from the 2024 version. Having speed on the game does not necessarily mean they will be the all-singing, all-dancing side from yesteryear, which some pundits have been implying.
They managed to get quick ball due to their dominance in contact but, in truth, they rarely spread the ball wide. Their performance started with the superb Cam Roigard and Beauden Barrett, whose kicking game set the tone, before the set-piece got to work and then the hosts’ carriers pummeled the French through the middle.
It was mightily efficient but it did not stray from what they attempted to do in Test one or last season. As a result, it almost rendered the wide players moot. Billy Proctor produced a fine performance but most of his best work was done in defence, which was much better this weekend, while Emoni Narawa and Rieko Ioane rarely had much space to work with as the game plan remained rather conservative.
Ioane ended in credit, though, and was much better in Wellington, scoring a try and getting involved far more, which included a fine carry and hands for Vaa’i’s score, but that effort from the blindside flanker was the most expansively the All Blacks played all evening.
Weaker French collapse
France made mass changes to their side for this encounter and it showed. The pack was even more understrength and some of the star backs from last weekend were also rotated, and Fabien Galthie paid the price for those decisions.
Les Bleus were simply bullied up front, with the lineout being taken apart by the hosts and the maul being shunted backwards by the well-drilled Kiwis. Brennan, despite the set-piece woes, was impressive in the loose, while Georges-Henri Colombe had some excellent moments in the loose and was surprisingly reliable in the scrum, but they were monstered in most areas.
As a result, the backline had little ball to weave their magic, but even then there were subpar displays with mistakes prevalent. Emilien Gailleton struggled on the wing and quite frankly needs to be moved back to centre, and Theo Attissogbe was certainly not as effective after being shifted from full-back.
Not that you would necessarily know which French players were playing well or badly if you were listening to New Zealand commentary, with individuals constantly getting mixed up. Pierre Bochaton was somehow mistaken for Matthias Halagahu at one stage and, unfortunately, it appeared inevitable that Romain Taofifenua would be called Cameron Woki at some point, or vice versa, and of course that duly happened.
There has been a lot of talk about apparent French ‘disrespect’ during this series but respect goes both ways and the commentary team doing their research on their opposition, however understrength, would be a start.
TMO watch
There was plenty of debate following the first Test over the use of the TMO and how much it affected the pace of the game, but it did not impact the contest this weekend. There were plenty of interjections but it was while the game going on, with Brett Cronan coming in when referee Christophe Ridley had missed something on the field.
And although there was the odd call which had to be officially reviewed, including the yellow cards for Beauden Barrett and Brennan, the decisions were made swiftly and accurately to keep the match moving.
- Colin Newboult
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