France have left many of their top players at home during this tour of New Zealand.
This move is seen as exploiting a loophole, hitting the integrity of international rugby.
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson is focusing on the series’ benefits despite France’s understrength squad.
Rugby has got itself a scandal – its own version of something akin to the early problems athletics encountered with athletes’ blood doping or refusing to be tested out of season.
Whatever the comparison, the French turning up in New Zealand with a squad that is not remotelyclose to being their top 37 players is an effective form of cheating in the race to win the 2027 World Cup.
It’s not high-end cheating, more exploitation of a loophole, or questionable occupation of grey-area territory.
Strategically, leaving so many of their frontline troops to rest and recover in the French summer may ultimately prove an ineffective form of cheating.
Not taking the opportunity to test themselves against the All Blacks in a three-test series may turn out to be an opportunity lost, a blown chance to galvanise a team that was looking frighteningly good by the end of this year’s Six Nations.
Ireland showed the value of going all-in when they brought every man and his dog to New Zealand in July 2022, won the series and then embarked on a 17-test unbeaten streak that ended in the 2023 World Cup quarter-final.
French coach Fabien Galthié is bringing a weakened line-up into the first test. Photo / Photosport
Maybe it will prove to be the masterstroke coach Fabien Galthié hopes it will be – a way to preserve the mental and physical vigour of his best, while finding the odd gold nugget buried deep within his squad here in New Zealand.
Whether resting so many players this July helps or hinders France is not the point, though. This shouldn’t be happening. It contravenes the goodwill agreement between the top-tier nations about the respect they show for international rugby and while the term cheating may be harsh, it is accurate.
It is cheating the system of reciprocity – damaging its credibility and integrity. The deal is that international rugby is best v best, and what France have done is turn up to the All Blacks’ house party with a bottle of unremarkable Côtes du Rhône when they promised to bring Saint-Émilion.
They will still have the temerity to expect the All Blacks to bring something splendid from the Gimblett Gravels next time they are due in Paris.
It is cheating the All Blacks out of the contest they wanted. It is cheating New Zealand Rugby out of the marketing story it needs and hampering its future ability to sell tickets.
And it is cheating the fans as it’s a dupe: a straight consumer case of not being sold what was advertised.
The punishment for France will likely be a difficult three weeks in which they battle to contain an All Blacks team that should have too much pace, power and experience for them.
It could get embarrassing – scorelines that run away on them – but obviously the French aren’t overly worried about that, or they wouldn’t have selected the way they have.
They have come with a mindset that they have nothing to lose as they threw the series away the instant they picked the squad they did. Now they believe they only have a potential upside to think about, which is the possibility of this ragtag group of good but inexperienced players finding a way to punch way above their weight.
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson's goals remain unchanged regardless of the strength of the visiting French team. Photo / Dean Purcell
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson has sidestepped making any pronouncement on the issue, preferring instead to frame the series as what his side can gain from it rather than focusing on what they have been denied.
But then what else could he say or do? This whole business is above his pay grade and he will be judged just the same as he would have had the French brought the heavy cavalry rather than the light infantry.
His goals remain unchanged, but the ability to achieve them has unquestionably become significantly easier.
This is now a series in which the All Blacks can get their scrummaging honed – the timing fractionally more precise and the all-important art of adapting to the referee and adjusting to his interpretations improved.
It’s a series in which they can lift confidence in their driving maul and their ability to defend it, and it’s a series in which they can build familiarity with their attack patterns while tinkering with their midfield and back-three set-ups.
There will be the illusion of this being the big time – but on the field there will be a fraction more time for the All Blacks to pass and catch, a little bit of naivety to exploit at set-piece, a little bit of leeway to make the odd mistake and not be harshly punished for doing so.
It all sounds great, maybe even a good thing that the All Blacks can open their season with a tough but underpowered opponent who provides a challenging but not overly intense means to feel their way into 2025.
But again, whether playing France Lite is indeed a better way for the All Blacks to start their campaign, is a moot point.
