This was an epic game that lived up to the pre-match hype and was a joy to watch. When rugby is played like this, with two teams close to each other and both wanting to play fast exciting rugby it shows what a great game our code is. Leading into the game a lot of talk was if France could maintain their dominance over NZ at home or whether the ABs had grown enough under Robertson to get the win they wanted. My biggest fear was would the TMO allow the game to be played, or would they interfere and have an unwanted impact on the spectacle. One of my concerns with the TMO is that it does have the effect of making the on field officials a bit lazy knowing that if they miss something the TMO will likely pick it up. Now I personally think the TMO should only be allowed to comment on clear and deliberate foul play that causes an injury, or if asked by the referee. If an incident happens on the field that isn’t clear and obvious enough for the referee and ARs to notice it, then maybe it isn’t that bad. There were a couple of calls from the TMO in both the England v South Africa game and this one for the neck roll, at least two of which were on the body, not the neck, and yet cost teams penalties. To me that wasn’t warranted and didn’t add to the spectacle.
The Game
The game started at a frantic pace with lots of multi phase attack and some wonderful passes from Dupont. The French were throwing everything at the ABs and forcing them to defend hard. At the same time the ABs were driving hard in defence and disrupting the French play. The attack was eventually rewarded with a penalty to France who took the initial lead. During this time there was a clash of knee on head between Tatafu and Finau that saw Finau leave the field with an obvious concussion and Tatafu leaving shortly afterwards. Lakai took the field for NZ and soon scored a wonderful try that was converted and took NZ in front. Buros then scored a nice try for France from a dropped pass that was converted for France to get back in front.
The ABs scored another try when the halfback Cam Riogard somehow stole the ball off the France #8 and ran away to score a converted by Barrett, who kicked a penalty soon afterwards. The All Blacks went into the sheds 17 – 10 in front.
France hit immediately after halftime with a great try to Boudehent that was converted by Ramos and France were now equal with NZ. They followed this up with another fine try to Bielle-Biarry that was also converted and put France into the lead again. The game continued at a high pace with the play moving up and down the field as first one side then the other would make a break that was stopped with some great defence on both sides. France and New Zealand traded penalties with NZ strangely taking the 3 point option at 75 minutes when on the attack, showing some dominance and time almost up. NZ continued to attack the line and France continued to defend well with some massive hist from both sides. NZ won the ball deep in their half but Jordan was held up in the tackle and the game ended with France winning 30 points to 29.
The Game Changer
In a close game like this there wasn’t really a “Game Changer” as such. After 80 minutes of rugby with 1 point separating the teams it doesn’t really lend itself to there being one. However, the ABs still struggled with the impact of the replacements. DMac was good and had some nice touches but Ratima at 9 struggled with the pace and was caught stuffing around at the back of a ruck too long that gave France a good scrum deep in the NZ half. ALB made some uncharacteristic mistakes and the loss of Finau early meant that the ABs couldn’t bring on fresh legs in the last 15 or so minutes. Mind you France also struggled here as well and losing a prop early caused their scrum to struggle at times.
The TMO was a bit loose at times and some of the calls were hard to understand. In saying that this affected both sides and so wasn’t a determining issue in the game. I thought the referee was very good with clear explanations and for once applying the breakdown laws and stopping the free for all we saw in a couple of matches last week.
MotM and stand out players
Cam Roigard was my MotM for NZ and with Thomas Ramos scoring at 100% my MotM for France. Dupont was his usual self and directed play well, especially after getting a completely legal rib tickler from Vaa’i when standing on the wrong side of one maul. However he didn’t have quite the impact he has had in the past. Caleb Clarke made some good runs without managing to get free to the next phase due to some great French defence.
Both teams tight 5 played their hearts out. NZ got some good lineout intercepts early and France got some back later in the match. The clash at the contest between the two sides was fantastic and there were some big hits on both sides.
Conclusion
A game this close is won on small moments and France made better use of them than the ABs. While losing this game by 1 point sucks big time, the spectacle itself was fantastic and almost, not quite but almost, makes up for the ABs losing. France have shown that they’ll be a real threat in the upcoming 6N and NZ showed that under Robertson, while they still have a way to go, they are definitely improving.
For me rugby was the real winner here. It’s the sort of thing a losing supporter has to say.
