Spring Tour: All Blacks Earn Hard-Fought Victory Over France
by Brendan Bradford –
An under fire French team pushed the All Blacks to the limit, but ultimately came up short as the World Cup holders held on for a 26-19 win in Paris on Sunday morning to retain the Dave Gallaher trophy.
After finishing equal last in the Six Nations and getting white-washed by the same opposition in June, France made a contest of it in front of a raucous crowd but couldn’t account for the brilliance of winger Charles Piutau who scored one try and set up another in the second half.
Incredibly physical, played with pace, power and plenty of daring, it rated second only to the Ellis Park showdown against the Springboks in the Rugby Championship as the sternest test the All Blacks faced this season.
“It was a good old tussle and that’s why they’re called Test matches, they tested our resolve and I’m happy to say we came through with a lot of courage and a fair bit of skill – we scored a couple of nice tries,” said All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.
“We were in a real contest and we had some opposition that wanted to arm-wrestle and we had to be patient and wait for our opportunities to come and when they come, seize them.”
In his first Test match in over a year, Corey Jane almost scored a brilliant try in the opening minutes but lost control of the ball in the corner while his body seemed to wait suspended in mid-air over the touchline.
Two penalties apiece from Morgan Parra and Dan Carter made the score 6-6 after half an hour while great clods of turf were being churned up at every scrum. Carter’s third – a 50 metre effort in the 27th minute – gave the visitors their second lead of the night as referee Jaco Peyper was as whistle happy as ever.
The French had the best try-scoring opportunity of the opening half hour, hitting holes in the 10 and 12 channels and marching towards the All Blacks’ line, but it was no surprise that when the move came to nothing, Peyper had found another penalty and Parra levelled the scores at 9-9 before halftime.
France edged the possession stats in the first half and while the All Blacks missed nine tackles to the home side’s one and couldn’t get any continuity on attack, a resolute defensive effort deep in their own territory kept the New Zealand line intact.
It took Peyper 1 minute and 15 seconds to extract his first French penalty of the second stanza and just another minute and 45 seconds before Carter added his fourth to tie the match 12-12.
A Ben Smith grubber set up Piutau for the opening try against the run of play in the 46th minute. The five-pointer and conversion seemed to kick the All Blacks into overdrive and Piutau went close again from a Ma’a Nonu grubber a few minutes later.
On the back of a couple of penalties, France surged again but the clinical All Blacks side went further ahead after a sublime Piutau offload set up Kieran Read to score on the left.
From the restart, France pounded the All Blacks line again with one and two out forward play until fullback Brice Dulin took advantage of a lack of numbers on the left to narrow the gap to 26-19 with ten minutes to play.
France forced the issue in the closing ten minutes and were held up in goal before earning several attacking scrum feeds which came to nothing when the All Blacks won a penalty after the final siren and held on for a spirited victory.
The All Blacks travel to London as they seek revenge for a loss to England on the 2012 Spring Tour while France host Tonga in Le Havre next week.
New Zealand 26 – (Charles Piutau, Kieran Read tries; Dan Carter, Aaron Cruden con, Dan Carter 4 pens) d France 19 (Brice Dulin try, Morgan Parra 4 pens, con)