Former All Blacks prop John Afoa on the first test between the All Blacks and France in Dunedin. He tells Ryan Bridge what he makes of the changes to the squad.
Opinion by Paul Lewis
Paul Lewis writes about rugby, cricket, league, football, yachting, golf, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
The All Blacks will face a French team resting top players, focusing on forward strength.
Rieko Ioane shifts to the wing, with Billy Proctor at centre, as new talent is tested.
The French strategy includes six forwards on the bench, emphasising their forwards-heavy approach.
While much focus has been on the selection of the All Black wings and the future in that position, it’s the work up front that will intrigue most when Scott Robertson’s men take on a French team composed of many players sparking the question: “Who?”
The French decisionto leave most of their best players behind for R&R has caused plenty of comment but we should maybe not be too precious. After all, coach John Mitchell took a development All Blacks side away to Europe in 2002, leaving behind 26 top players (including someone called Richie McCaw), mostly from Canterbury and Otago. They were the two best-performed New Zealand Super Rugby teams that year; Mitchell did exactly what French coach Fabien Galthie has done: resting his charges for the 2003 World Cup.
French coach Fabian Galthie and All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. Photos / Photosport
Didn’t work. They lost to England first up, drew with France and put 43 points on Wales. However, the team was dumped out of the World Cup when Australia sprang that 22-10 semifinal surprise in Sydney and Mitchell himself dumped soon after. You fancy the French – now bearing the chokers label after their own 2023 semifinal sadness in the World Cup they were supposed to win – would do better playing their top team, or close to it, against other top teams but … this is France.
The All Blacks selectors, meanwhile, have also gone more than a little experimental – doing what was suggested in this column a couple of months ago: shift Rieko Ioane back to the wing to accommodate Billy Proctor at centre. They have also used the opportunity to blood new talent. A couple of months before the Ioane column, I also suggested the selectors use the series against the French that way – particularly at lock, No 7, No 8, halfback, first five-eighths and the midfield. They have made changes in four of those six areas and coach Scott Robertson has gone on record saying his whole 33-man squad will get game time.
However, even though this French team is largely a mystery to Kiwis, it is clear the French will continue the forwards-heavy assault that has proven successful. The selection of six forwards on the bench and only two backs makes that clear. Their top team used that same formula when overrunning Ireland in the Six Nations this year – only then the bench was a 7-1 forwards/backs split. Down 27-15, the French made mass substitutions early in the second half, their own “bomb squad” firing off 27 unanswered points and a clear win.
What did it for them was the cohesion of their forwards – big, powerful and quick – attacking close in and wider with much of the skill and cleverness of backs. Who needs backs?
The All Blacks, over the years, invented forwards who can run like backs and still heavily populate that particular market. So they know what is coming at them – young, hungry, untried giants with a point to prove, backed up by some gritty veterans on the bench. The two locks, Tyler Duguid and Hugo Auradou are both 2m tall with Duguid 124kg of hard graft and Auradou the more mobile and aggressive. Plus they have a normal lock, Mickael Guillard, at No 8 (1.97m and 122kg). They and 10 others in the French team were in the France XV that beat an England XV by the same method two weeks ago – swamping the opposition with six bench forwards in the final quarter to take a 26-24 win after being down 19-12 at halftime.
That is at least partly why lock Tupou Vaa’i is playing blindside flanker, to counter their size and mobility as well as to fit Fabian Holland at lock, to see if he can foot it (and to bolster the lineout). Ardie Savea is moved to 7 which gives Christian Lio-Willie a chance to continue his good form for the Crusaders at No 8, even if that was forced by injury to Wallace Sititi.
All Blacks loose forward Ardie Savea. Photo / Photosport
The All Blacks may have an edge at scrum time but the breakdown will be vital – come in, Savea, Lio-Willie and Duplessis Kirifi among others. French flanker Alexandre Fischer is a good ball grubber and blindside Killian Tixeront a good ball player, by all accounts.
They also boast a Kiwi winger, Tom Spring, who has Māori lineage from a father who played in France and stayed there, according to the L’Equipe newspaper. He will go head-to-head with Ioane. Sevu Reece has been retained largely for his experience, you feel, and because Caleb Clarke, in poor form so far this season, has seen his left wing position filled by Ioane for the moment.
While Ioane’s shift is the big news, you can’t help but feel there is much ground to cover and people to try before the wing spots are nailed down for the 2027 World Cup. Reece was shown up for pace the last time he played France and there is no guarantee Ioane will fire on the wing.
It’s not hard to see Emoni Narawa – presently only injury cover – getting a run, though Robertson seems not to be convinced about him yet. There is also plenty of time for contending wings like Caleb Tangitau, Leroy Carter, Kini Naholo, Chay Fihaki and Kyren Taumoefolau to make a mark.
Paul Lewis writes about rugby, cricket, league, football, yachting, golf, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
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