Stung All Blacks give rugby lesson to France XV

It's hard to know, nearly 19,000 km from Wellington, New Zealand, what was said in the All Blacks' locker room this week. But seeing the rugby lesson the men with the fern inflicted on the French XV (43-10) on Saturday, July 12, at Sky Stadium, there's no doubt that New Zealand coach Scott Robertson knew how to find the words to sting his players. He didn't really have a choice, put under pressure by an entire country after his team's narrow victory (31-27) against a dispassionate French XV a week earlier.

Guilty of numerous handling errors in Dunedin, the All Blacks rectified their situation on Saturday. Captain Ardie Savea (author of a try) and his teammates displayed their speedy movement game. A science they have mastered to perfection, like the first try scored by scrum-half Cameron Roigard after a perfectly oiled combination in the closed side following a lineout. "We need to be more clinical in the important areas of the field and finish our plays," Ardie Savea had reminded us during the week. The flanker and his men, imperial in conquest and impact, were surgical on Saturday on the windswept Sky Stadium pitch.

The Blues, for their part, were unable to repeat their performance in Dunedin. Far too many penalties conceded, lost balls, handling errors, a conquest put to torture... "They were really better than us, they played their rugby. They put us at fault, pushed us up front," admitted helplessly to Canal+, the French hooker and captain Gaëtan Barlot. "It was a difficult match to live through. There is a difference between the two teams, there is no comparison," bowed Fabien Galthié, the French coach, who pointed out the too many errors of his players in the first half to be able to compete.

Gaëtan Barlot, however, demanded the day before the match to "do like last week." "We will have to be present in defense, know how to hit, hurt them, and chain tasks. That's where it's hard for them, they see that you hit and you get up, that's what we have to know how to do again tomorrow," explained the Castres player. But this time, the Blues buckled from the start of the match under the New Zealand assault. And even if they played on equal terms in the second half with the All Blacks thanks to two tries from Léo Barré ( ^47th minute) and Joshua Brennan ( ^78th ), the bill is steep for Fabien Galthié's players: six tries conceded, bringing back the litany of corrections inflicted on the Blues by the men in black. The last one, in June 2018, in Dunedin (49-14).

For this second test match, the Lot technician rested several key players and made a major squad review (ten changes), calling up six players who had not been selected for the Blues: prop Baptiste Erdocio, second rows Joshua Brennan and Matthias Halagahu, flankers Pierre Bochaton and Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer as well as scrum-half Thibault Daubagna. Particularly inexperienced, but reinforced by four of the five Top 14 finalists called up for the summer tour, the starting XV had only 63 international caps on Saturday; five All Blacks each had more on the field, including Beauden Barrett, the most capped (135).

A week ago, in the wake of captain Gaël Fickou or the young Pau player Théo Attissogbe – praised by the local press – Fabien Galthié's men, in the absence of great rides, had managed to form a united front against the attacks of the men in black. They even had a match point in their hands, less than five minutes from the end. The hold-up was almost perfect, fueled by pride. Deprived of their best players (Thomas Ramos, Damian Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey) due to the extended schedule of French rugby, the Blues had indeed responded on the pitch to the harsh criticism of the New Zealand fans. Like the former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall, one of the most angry, who denounced a "lack of respect" .

Dunedin's surprise effect has therefore failed to work in Wellington. Fabien Galthié and his men have one more match to try to secure a victory on New Zealand soil, Saturday, July 19th, in Hamilton. The All Blacks' last French victory dates back to 2009, when Thierry Dusautoir and his teammates won 27-22 in Dunedin.