The All Blacks celebrate a try in their victory over France in Dunedin. Photo / Photosport
By Liam Napier in Dunedin
All Blacks 31
France 27
Scott Robertson’s second season leading the All Blacks started in a similar vein to the first – with a nervous, shaky, underwhelming escape under the Dunedin roof.
Opening their test campaign at the same venue, the All Blacks were widely expected to make light work of a French side missing the majority of their best players, with only five Top 14 finalists included in their wider squad.
The reality proved a world removed, heaping pressure on the New Zealand men to drastically improve before the second test in Wellington next week.
Rusty, scratchy first-test openings are common from the All Blacks. Last year, they escaped with a nervy one-point victory against England.
This time was supposed to be different, though. France weren’t supposed to be this competitive.
A run of three successive losses to France in Paris – in 2021, 2023, 2024 – was supposed to be broken with relative ease.
Averaging 14 test caps per player and featuring eight rookies, the visitors were more baby Le Bleus than the Six Nations champions.
While the All Blacks injected four rookies, they made all the right noises about paying the French due respect and expecting their best. Yet their performance fell well short of expectations.
The longer this contest went on, the longer France’s second-stringers believed their first win on New Zealand soil since 2009 could be within reach.
Desperately clinging to a one-point lead deep into the second half, Robertson’s All Blacks had their feet to the fire.
In the end, the hosts needed first five-eighths Beauden Barrett’s 74th-minute penalty to sneak home to claim their first victory over France since 2018.
When the final whistle sounded, there were minimal celebrations from the All Blacks – and a muted reaction from the 28,532 crowd, too.
Rust was widely evident. Their handling, the timing of their passing and their kick execution were all off at times, they were exposed under the high ball, and their cleanout work was too passive. The All Blacks conceded 16 turnovers to France’s six.
There were bright spots with loose forwards Ardie Savea and Christian Lio-Willie, the latter on debut, featuring prominently.
Another debutant, lock Fabian Holland, was in everything for 80 minutes. Will Jordan bagged two tries from the wing and halfback Cam Roigard produced several scything breaks and one try-saving tackle. Others, though, struggled, with Rieko Ioane enduring a difficult evening on the wing.
Collectively, this performance would probably not have been nearly good enough to knock off France’s first-choice side.
Just as they did last year, the All Blacks created ample chances but failed to display the clinical finishing they crave. They led 21-13 at halftime and were denied three tries, two in the second half.
Centre Billy Proctor’s try was scrubbed out for an apparent knock-on while grounding the ball and Jordan’s hat-trick was ruled out for a dubious obstruction. That left the All Blacks unable to capitalise on Gabin Villière’s 55th-minute yellow card for an intentional knock-down.
Defensively, the All Blacks were frail – conceding 27 points is far too many against this French team.
The All Blacks lost wing Sevu Reece in the opening minute after he took an unfortunate head knock in his first tackle of the game. Reece’s exit injected Damian McKenzie to fullback, pushing Jordan out to the right wing.
France defied all predictions to pounce on frequent All Blacks errors – and their propensity to kick the ball away without contesting or regathering it – to establish a shock 10-0 lead.
French fullback Theo Attissogbe sparked the opening strike when he beat Proctor on an outside break – a decisive incision that paved the way for No 8 Mickael Guillard to cross from close range.
The All Blacks created chances early on – second five Jordie Barrett had a try ruled out for a knock-on by prop Fletcher Newell and Ioane could’ve thrown a long ball after one sweeping movement – but didn’t convert.
Captain Scott Barrett, who was replaced in the second half, helped his side settle with a momentum-turning charge-down that paved the way for Beauden Barrett to send Jordan in at the corner.
McKenzie injected his unpredictable presence from the back field on multiple occasions, but it was the forward pack, through a scrum penalty, who put blindside flanker Tupou Vaa’i in a position to charge over.
Just before the break, the All Blacks began to find their attacking groove with Beauden Barrett delivering a deft tip-on for brother Jordie Barrett to create some breathing room at halftime.
Ioane invited the French back into the contest by dropping the second-half restart. The visitors duly obliged with experienced wing Gabin Villière crossing to set the tone for a tight, tense finish.
The All Blacks ultimately did enough, but an overriding feeling of frustration will linger, with this performance needing to be immediately amended next week.
All Blacks 31 (Will Jordan 2, Tupou Vaa’i, Jordie Barrett tries; Beauden Barrett 4 cons, pen)
France 27 (Mickael Guillard, Gabin Villière, Cameron Woki tries; Nolann Le Garrec 3 cons, pen; Joris Segonds pen)
HT: 21-13
Liam Napier is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.