Brodie Retallick of the Chiefs is tackled by Sam Whitelock of the Crusaders during the Super Rugby Pacific match, Crusaders Vs Chiefs. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Brodie Retallick of the Chiefs is tackled by Sam Whitelock of the Crusaders during the Super Rugby Pacific match, Crusaders Vs Chiefs. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
OPINION:
France were the weekend's big rugby winners – their win in Cardiff enhancing the growing belief they are tracking ahead of everyone else.
The French ground out a scrappy win against Wales which showed they have as much fight and character as they do speed and vision.
Ask aroundabout what people think might happen at next year's World Cup and there's almost unanimous belief that France will win it.
For too long they were mostly awful: directionless and Anglicised with their rugby, debilitated by the buying power of their clubs who could find room for every international star in the game, but none for their home-grown talent.
Too much club cash produced international trash and France went 12 years between 2009 and 2021 without beating the All Blacks or even getting particularly close.
But the arrival of Covid accelerated a plan to limit foreign influence in their club league.
It also coincided with former halfback Fabien Galthie taking over as head coach with a desire to build his selections around the Under-20 side that won the Junior World Championship in 2018 and 2019.
France have remembered what it is to be French and they are now one win away from securing a Six Nations Grand Slam that will cement this growing sense they will be the team to beat at the next World Cup.
They will be at home, something which could crush them or galvanise them and while its never easy or wise to predict what might serve as emotional fuel for the French, they are typically happier when they are surrounded by the familiar.
No one loves being in France more than the French and their current state of mind was illustrated by their recent decision to turn down the chance to play the All Blacks later this year.
New Zealand were keen to play in France this November – to base themselves in either Paris or Lyon – where they will be spending most of their time at the next tournament - in a World Cup dry run.
The fixture was on the cards and then suddenly it was off: the French decided they had nothing to gain by playing the All Blacks 10 months before they meet in the opening game of the World Cup.
It was a smart move on their part to say non merci to the tout noirs. Why give New Zealand the chance to avenge last year's 40-25 loss in Paris ahead of the World Cup? Why not leave the demons to roam inside All Black heads until 2023 and they face off in the pool rounds?
And so instead, the All Blacks will now most likely play Japan on their way to Europe for tests against Wales, England and Scotland.
As psychologically smart as it was for France to avoid confrontation until it really matters, it wasn't the worst thing for the All Blacks either.
Super Rugby this weekend, for those looking closely enough, hinted at brighter possibilities lying ahead for the All Blacks.
Sam Cane of the Chiefs during the Super Rugby Pacific match, Crusaders Vs Chiefs, at Orangetheory Stadium, Christchurch, New Zealand. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
The shining pillars of hope were Sam Cane had Brodie Retallick – two men who when they are at their best, will give the All Blacks an altogether different complexion.
Cane had another huge game in the Chiefs late defeat of the Crusaders and this understated champion, who missed almost all of last year, will give the All Blacks the inspirational focal point they missed in 2021.
The best All Blacks sides have had a talismanic captain – an undeniable force who is unbending and relentless. Cane can be that leader and has started 2022 with a steely determination that says he wants his fellow senior players to lift their respective games and get in behind him.
One who is doing just that is Brodie Retallick, who produced another game where his work-rate was epic if perhaps not his influence and he looks like his mind and body are once again in unison.
Cane and Retallick both played with that cold determination that was apparent within Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and other key All Blacks in 2010 after they endured a torrid 2009, losing four tests.
McCaw and Carter had fires raging already after the catastrophe of the 2007 World Cup – the blaze becoming an inferno by 2010.
Might the same now be true of Cane and Retallick? They were both stung by the way the 2019 World Cup ended and both were further hurt by the three defeats endured by the All Blacks last year.
They are the sorts or personalities and athletes who at their highly motivated best, will transform the All Blacks, give them an edge and presence they have been missing.
France leapt forward over the weekend but so too did New Zealand – not as obviously or as dramatically but there is a definite sense that some key players want to change the narrative that the All Blacks are drifting away from the top tier.
