History of rugby union matches between All Blacks and France

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The national rugby union teams of France and New Zealand (the All Blacks) have been playing each other for over a century and, by January 2008, they have met in 46 Test matches. The first encounter, which was also France's first Test, took place in Paris in January 1906 and New Zealand won 38–8. It was not until 1954 that the French were able to secure their first win over the New Zealanders (they won 3–0).

France first toured New Zealand in 1961 – before any of the Home Nations – and the All Blacks won all three Tests. The All Blacks' first full tour of France was in 1977,^[i] when they won both Tests. France first defeated the All Blacks in New Zealand on Bastille Day 1979. The teams also met at the inaugural Rugby World Cup final in 1987, which was won by the All Blacks 29–9. A first series win in New Zealand was achieved by France in 1994 when they won both Tests. In 1999 the teams again met in the World Cup, but this time in the semi-finals. The match was hosted at Twickenham Stadium, where France overcame a 24–10 deficit to win 43–31. Since 2000 the two teams have contested the Dave Gallaher Trophy which the All Blacks won in 2000 and have never lost. They last met during the 2007 World Cup quarter-finals at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff which France won 20–18.

Overall, the All Blacks have won 34 Tests against France's 11, with one match drawn. The largest winning margin in a Test between the countries was a 61–10 victory to the All Blacks at Westpac Stadium in 2007. The most career points scored by members of either team is 92 by Andrew Mehrtens; he also holds the record for points in one match with 29.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early meetings (1905–1925) 1.2 Post war (1954–1968) 1.3 Full amateur tours (1970–1994) 1.4 Professional era (from 1995) 2 Record 2.1 Matches 2.2 Team records 2.3 Individual records 3 References 3.1 Notes 3.2 Citations 3.3 Sources 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early meetings (1905–1925)

The first ever New Zealand tour to the Northern Hemisphere took place in 1905–06.^[1] It was also the first time they wore a black strip and the first time they performed the haka.^[1] The team – known today as "The Original All Blacks" – played various club and national sides throughout the British Isles before taking on France on 1 January 1906.^[1] This was France's first Test and was held at Parc des Princes, Paris.^[2] The All Blacks scored ten tries, including six in the second half, to France's two, and won 38–8. Despite the scoreline, France's two tries were more than any previous team had scored against the All Blacks on tour.^[1] Commenting on the state of French rugby in their book The Complete Rugby Footballer, Original All Blacks Dave Gallaher and Billy Stead wrote: "We are strongly of the opinion that the game will spread in their country and that in the course of time they will put a team in the field which will command the utmost respect of any other."^[2]

The 1924–25 All Blacks' Invincibles tour included a Test against France.^[ii] The teams met at the Stade des Ponts Jumeaux in Toulouse on 18 January 1925.^[3] Although French rugby had improved since 1906,^[iii] the All Blacks still won 30–6, with France scoring two tries. All Blacks' captain Cliff Porter said of France "Your forwards gave us a lot of bother. Your three-quarters were not so good."^[4]

In 1926, France lost to the New Zealand Maoris.^[5] Perhaps the "most celebrated Maori side in history", they undertook a seven-month 1926–27 tour of Australia, Ceylon, France, Wales and Canada, playing 38 matches, winning 29 and losing seven, with two draws.^[6] In total, the Maoris scored 712 points while conceding 215.^[7]

In 1932, the International Rugby Football Board (IRB) expelled France from the Five Nations Championship for breaching the professionalism rules in its domestic club competition. Consequently, the All Blacks did not face France during their 1935 British Isles' tour. Although France was readmitted in 1939, the Second World War intervened, suspending international competition.

In 1946, France played two matches against a team selected from the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, nicknamed the "Khaki All Blacks".^[5] The games took place on 10 March at Stade Colombes, Paris, and on 24 March at Wallon Stadium, Toulouse. The Khaki All Blacks won both (14–9 and 13–10).^[8][9]

[edit] Post war (1954–1968)

The 1954 match at Stade Colombes, Paris, was dominated by the All Blacks with the majority of possession and territory.^[5] Despite this, France scored in the 35th minute after the ball was lost by All Blacks' half-back Keith Davis 40 metres (130 ft) from France's line. The ball was picked up by French number eight Robert Baulon who passed to Paul Labadie. Labadie then passed to French captain Jean Prat who scored a try, giving France a 3–0 lead that the All Blacks failed to close.^[10] Although New Zealand relentlessly attacked the French line – and made several drop goal and penalty attempts – the French defence held, earning France their first win (3–0) over the All Blacks.

France first toured New Zealand in 1961 – before any of the home nations.^[11] The first Test at Eden Park was won 13–6 by the All Blacks after they scored two converted tries and a penalty. France's first five-eighth Pierre Albaladejo kicked all of France's points with two drop goals, prompting the New Zealanders to nickname him "Monsieur Drop".^[11][12] The second Test of the tour was played at Athletic Park in Wellington.^[13] The wind was very strong and neither team scored during the first half. In the second, playing into the wind, France scored a try to lead 3–0. The All Blacks' Kel Tremain responded with a try. In one of the best conversions of his career, Don Clarke kicked almost parallel to the goal-line, relying on the strong wind to gust the ball over the posts. The Blacks won 5–3.^[14] Although the All Blacks won the final Test in Christchurch 32–3 to take the series, the tour had a positive influence in France where it was broadcast on national television via satellite, popularising the sport beyond its traditional heartland of the southwest.^[15]

The next two matches between the teams were both in Paris. The All Blacks won the first 12–3 in 1964 after tries from Ralph Caulton and Ken Gray. In the next match, in 1967, the All Blacks were coached by Fred Allen and captained by Brian Lochore; they won 21–15.^[16]

In 1968, following their first Five Nations Grand Slam, France toured Australia and New Zealand. They were defeated in their Test against Australia and in all three against the All Blacks. The All Blacks' side was particularly strong and won all its Tests between 1965 and 1970.^[16] France's touring losses presaged a string of defeats that did not end until they drew against Wales in the 1969 Five Nations (in which France finished last).^[17]

[edit] Full amateur tours (1970–1994)

France achieved only their second Test victory over the All Blacks in 1973 at Parc des Princes, Paris.^[18] The All Blacks had defeated England, Scotland and Wales, and drawn with Ireland on their 1973 tour and France was their last Test. France won 13–6.^[19] In 1977 the All Blacks made their first ever full tour of France. France won the first Test in Toulouse and the All Blacks the second in Paris.^[19] France then reciprocated and toured New Zealand in 1979. This time, neutral referees were appointed for the first time. The All Blacks won the first Test 23–9 at Lancaster Park. However, in the second Test, France upset the All Blacks by winning 24–19 on Bastille Day at Eden Park. The victory was France's first win in New Zealand over the All Blacks.^[20]

The 1980s saw many France–New Zealand Tests. The first two were in 1981 when the All Blacks toured France, visiting in Toulouse and Paris; the All Blacks won both Tests, 13–9 and 18–6 respectively. In 1984, France visited New Zealand for two Tests. They lost the first, at Lancaster Park, 10–9 (despite repeated French drop goal attempts) and the second, at Eden Park, 31–18.

In 1986, France played a one-off Test in New Zealand, at Lancaster Park. Many top All Blacks were serving a two-month suspension for participating in the rebel Cavaliers tour to South Africa. The team that faced France became known as the "Baby Blacks" as all bar two of them were either making their Test début or were very inexperienced.^[21] The Baby Blacks upset France 18–9 in front of 24,000 spectators; the only try coming from number eight Mike Brewer.^[22]

Later, in 1986, the bans served, the full All Blacks toured France. They won the first Test, in Toulouse, 19–7. Their next match, at Nantes, became known as "the battle of Nantes".^[23] France played aggressively and tried to intimidate the All Blacks. All Black Buck Shelford had his scrotum rucked in the twentieth minute that required stitches while he was still on the field. He was later knocked out, losing several teeth in the process, and did not finish the match.^[24] The aggressive display by France paid off and they won 16–3. The following year France and the All Blacks met in the final of the inaugural Rugby World Cup. The tournament was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia and the final was held at Eden Park. The All Blacks were captained by David Kirk and went on to win their only World Cup 29–9.^[25] According to the All Blacks' coach at the time, Brian Lochore, the previous year's loss in Nantes was the catalyst for their World Cup victory.^[26] Shelford said of the match "We wanted to play them in the final because we wanted revenge".^[27] The match also helped improve the diplomatic and political rift between France and New Zealand caused by the 1985 bombing of the Rainbow Warrior by French Secret Service agents.^[28]

France toured New Zealand in 1989 and played a two Test series. They lost both Tests; the first 25–17 at Lancaster Park, and the second 34–20 at Eden Park. In both Tests the All Blacks led at the half time break, with France responding by scoring most of their points during the first 15 minutes of the second half before the All Blacks counter-attacking to win in the last quarter.^[29] The All Blacks reciprocal tour of France came in 1990. Again two Tests were played and again they were won by the All Blacks; 24–3 at Nantes, and 30–12 at the Parc de Princes. The All Blacks first-five eighth Grant Fox, dominated both matches, scoring 16 points in the first Test,^[30] and 22 points in the second.^[31]

The next tour was of New Zealand by France in 1994. In a major upset for New Zealand rugby,^[32] France took the first Test 22–8 at Lancaster Park, coinciding with Frenchman Philippe Sella's hundredth match for his country. Sella said of the game "But this historic victory for my 100th cap, with a score I never imagined—that's one of my really great, great memories".^[33] The second and final Test on tour was at Eden Park on 3 July 1994. The All Blacks were winning 20–16 with three minutes remaining after Matthew Cooper had kicked a penalty.^[26] The French counter-attacked and ran the ball the length of the field from their own in-goal area to win. The ball was handled by nine French players before the try was scored by Jean-Luc Sadourny.^[34] French captain Philippe Saint-Andre called it "a counter-attack from the end of the world",^[26] and it was then labelled the try from the end of the world.^[35] The try gave France a 23–20 win and a 2–0 series win over the All Blacks. In 2003, Daily Telegraph readers the try the fourth best of all time in either rugby union or rugby league.^[35]

[edit] Professional era (from 1995)

On 11 November 1995, France set a record when they defeated the All Blacks 22–15 at Toulouse — their consecutive victory over the New Zealanders. A week later, on 18 November, at the Parc des Princes in Paris, the All Blacks took their revenge, inflicting a resounding 37–12 defeat. It was not until 1999 that the two teams met again, in a one-off Test at Athletic Park in Wellington. The All Blacks won 54–7; at the time France's largest ever loss.^[36] Tana Umaga scored three tries in the match and Andrew Mehrtens kicked 19 points in the match.^[36]

After their Athletic Park victory, the All Blacks were heavy favourites to win when they met France in the semi-finals of the 1999 Rugby World Cup.^[37] The game was played at the neutral venue of Twickenham Stadium on 31 October 1999. The All Blacks led 24–10 seven minutes into the second half after two tries (both to Jonah Lomu). France then scored two penalties and two drop goals to first five-eighth Christophe Lamaison to reduce the All Blacks' lead to 24–22 with 25 minutes remaining.^[37] Scrum-half Fabien Galthié chip kicked the ball to Christophe Dominici who then scored.^[38] Another Lamaison kick set up a try for centre Richard Dourthe, which Lamaison converted, to take France into the lead, 36–24. France scored another try in the remaining five minutes, and although the All Blacks scored a last-minute try France won 43–31. Lamaison had scored 28 points, and a full house – a try, conversion, penalty and drop goal all in one match.^[37]

The Dave Gallaher Trophy was introduced in 2000 to be contested between the two teams. It was named in memory of All Blacks captain Dave Gallaher who captained the All Blacks against France in 1906 and who died at Passchendaele.^[39] The Cup was first contested on Armistice Day (11 November) 2000. The All Blacks won 39–26 and scored two tries whilst Andrew Mehrtens scored nine penalties.^[40] The two met again the following week and this time France won 42–33, but as only the first Test counted towards the trophy the All Blacks retained it.

The countries met in each year in one-off Tests in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The 2001 Test was won 37–12 by the All Blacks, the 2002 Test was a 20 all draw and in 2003 the All Blacks won 31–23 at Jade Stadium. They met again in 2003 at the Rugby World Cup in Sydney. The match was a third-fourth play-off game and was won 40–13 by the All Blacks. In 2004 they met in a one-off Test in Paris. The 2004 Test was the first between the two teams with Graham Henry as All Blacks coach. France were 2004 Six Nations Champions, and were defeated by five tries to nil.^[41] The final score was a 45–6 win to the All Blacks; a record at the time.^[42] They met in France in 2006 – this time for a two-Test series. The first Test was played in Lyon on Armistice Day. The All Blacks defeated France 46–3 which was a record defeat for them at home.^[43] This was despite the All Blacks' team not being their strongest available.^[44] Following the defeat France's manager Jo Maso said that the All Blacks played the match, "for all the New Zealanders who died during the two World Wars in Europe".^[45] The following week the two teams met in Paris; this time to commemorate the centennial of the first ever All Blacks versus France Test.^[45] Despite fielding what coach Graham Henry described as his best team,^[46] the All Blacks achieved a less notable 23–11 victory.^[43]

The next year France visited New Zealand for a two-Test series. The final rounds of the 2007–08 Top 14 season conflicting with the tour, so France sent a Test team short of 30 of their top players.^[47] With their weakened squad, the team was labelled "France C" by the New Zealand media.^[48] Featuring six new caps, France were defeated 42–11 in the first Test at Eden Park.^[47] The second Test was played the following week in Wellington, and the All Blacks achieved their largest ever victory over France with a 61–10 win.^[49] The defeat was France's heaviest in their history.^[49]

France hosted the 2007 World Cup, and the two teams met in the tournament quarter-finals. Despite France hosting the tournament the match was held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The match was won by France 20–18, and involved several controversial decisions by referee Wayne Barnes,^[50] who subsequently received death threats from some New Zealand fans.^[51] France scored one try after the sin binning of All Blacks second five-eighth Luke McAlister,^[52] and another from a forward pass unseen by the referee.^[53] The All Blacks were strongly criticised for not attempted a drop goal in the game's final minutes.^[54][55] Their performance was analysed by Palmerston North based company Verusco who had analysed 1,500 games since 2000. They discovered that the All Blacks made 57 tackles to Frances' 269, and they had 66 percent possession and 60 percent territory. The playing time, that is time the ball is in play, was the longest of any game Verusco had ever recorded.^[56] An 'Independent Review of the 2007 Rugby World Cup Campaign', conducted by Russel McVeagh lawyers and SPRAC (Sports & Recreation NZ), found that Wayne Barnes and the touch judges had a significant impact on the result of the match. The report states that "The penalty count was 10-2 against the All Blacks, with none awarded in the second half, despite dominance in territory and possession (which statistically should result in penalties awarded to the dominant side). On anyone's account the referees and touch judges made mistakes which worked against the All Blacks."^[57]

[edit] Record

[edit] Matches

As of January 2008, the All Blacks and France have played a total of 46 Tests. The All Blacks have won 34, France 11, and one drawn. Only three matches have been played at neutral venues; the 1999 World Cup semi-final at Twickenham, London, and the 2003 World Cup third/fourth play-off match at Stadium Australia in Sydney and the 2007 World Cup quarter-final at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Summary of Test matches played between France and the All Blacks:^[58]

Details	Played	Won by All Blacks	Won by France	Drawn	All Blacks points	France points
In France	22	15	6	1	501	264
In New Zealand	21	18	3	0	532	259
Neutral venue	3	1	2	0	89	76
Overall	46	34	11	1	1122	599

N°	Date	Venue	City	All Blacks points	France points
1	1906-01-01	Parc des Princes	Paris	38	8
2	1925-01-18	Stade des Ponts Jumeaux	Toulouse	30	6
3	1954-02-27	Stade Colombes	Paris	0	3
4	1961-07-22	Eden Park	Auckland	13	6
5	1961-08-05	Athletic Park	Wellington	5	3
6	1961-08-19	Lancaster Park	Christchurch	32	3
7	1964-02-08	Stade Colombes	Paris	12	3
8	1967-11-25	Stade Colombes	Paris	21	15
9	1968-07-13	Lancaster Park	Christchurch	12	9
10	1968-07-27	Athletic Park	Wellington	9	3
11	1968-08-10	Eden Park	Auckland	19	12
12	1973-02-10	Parc des Princes	Paris	6	13
13	1977-11-11	Stadium Municipal	Toulouse	13	18
14	1977-11-19	Parc des Princes	Paris	15	3
15	1979-07-07	Lancaster Park	Christchurch	23	9
16	1979-07-14	Eden Park	Auckland	19	24
17	1981-11-14	Stadium Municipal	Toulouse	13	9
18	1981-11-21	Parc des Princes	Paris	18	6
19	1984-06-16	Lancaster Park	Christchurch	10	9
20	1984-06-23	Eden Park	Auckland	31	18
21	1986-06-28	Lancaster Park	Christchurch	18	9
22	1986-11-08	Stadium Municipal	Toulouse	19	7
23	1986-11-15	Stade de la Beaujoire	Nantes	3	16
24	1987-06-20	Eden Park	Auckland	29	9
25	1989-06-17	Lancaster Park	Christchurch	25	17
26	1989-07-01	Eden Park	Auckland	34	20
27	1990-11-03	Stade de la Beaujoire	Nantes	24	3
28	1990-11-10	Parc des Princes	Paris	30	12
29	1994-06-26	Lancaster Park	Christchurch	8	22
30	1994-07-03	Eden Park	Auckland	20	23
31	1995-11-11	Stadium Municipal	Toulouse	15	22
32	1995-11-18	Parc des Princes	Paris	37	12
33	1999-06-26	Athletic Park	Wellington	54	7
34	1999-10-31	Twickenham	London	31	43
35	2000-11-11	Stade de France	Paris	39	26
36	2000-11-18	Stade Velodrome	Marseille	33	42
37	2001-06-30	WestpacTrust Stadium	Wellington	37	12
38	2002-11-16	Stade de France	Paris	20	20
39	2003-06-28	Jade Stadium	Christchurch	31	23
40	2003-11-20	Stadium Australia	Sydney	40	13
41	2004-11-27	Stade de France	Paris	45	6
42	2006-11-11	Stade de Gerland	Lyon	47	3
43	2006-11-18	Stade de France	Paris	23	11
44	2007-06-02	Eden Park	Auckland	42	11
45	2007-06-09	Westpac Stadium	Wellington	61	10
46	2007-10-06	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	18	20

[edit] Team records

The highest score in a Test between the countries is 61 achieved by the All Blacks in the match at Westpac Stadium, Wellington on 9 June 2007. That Test also holds the record for the greatest winning margin with 51 points. The most points scored by France against the All Blacks was 43 when they defeated the All Blacks in their 1999 Rugby World Cup semi-final at Twickenham. Their highest winning margin over the All Blacks is 14 achieved when they played at Lancaster Park, Christchurch on 26 June 1994.^[59]

[edit] Individual records

Andrew Mehrtens has the record for most career points for the All Blacks against France with 92;^[59] he also has the record for a single match with 29.^[40] The record for career tries is held by All Black Joe Rokocoko with eight whilst the most scored by a Frenchman is held jointly by Serge Blanco and Philippe Saint-André with three.^[59]

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Citations

[edit] Sources

[edit] See also

• History of the French national rugby union team
• All Blacks at the Rugby World Cup

[edit] External links

• Official website of the Fédération Française de Rugby
• Official All Blacks website
• Verusco Video Analysis and Statistics provider