French fullback Théo Attissogbe on the run in Dunedin. Photo / Getty Images
How the French players rated in the first test at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
1. Giorgi Beria – 6
Debutant was born in Georgia, meaning there’s a chance he’s related to Joseph Stalin’s hatchet man, Lavrentiy Beria. Certainly had a suitably menacing look. Flattened Fletcher Newell in first scrum and worked industriously around the park.
2. Gaetan Barlot – 6
A long night of piling into breakdowns and chasing after backline breaks from both teams.
3. Rabah Slimani – 4
Social-grade defence when Cam Roigard went through to set up the disallowed try. Looked a little disoriented when the ball landed in his mitts. French scrum pretty poked after 15 minutes, improved when the bench rolled on.
4. Hugo Auradou – 5
Attacked All Blacks lineout to little effect. Tied up by Codie Taylor with ball at his chest in an early maul. Threw himself into defensive clutter.
5. Tyler Duguid – 5
Debutant got little joy against powerful All Blacks tall timber.
6. Alexandre Fischer – 7
Debutant flapped at Damian McKenzie in build-up to Tupou Vaa’i try, when he really needed to put a shoulder into the wee fella. Pulled off some epic breakdown work, including a key steal in the 68th minute. Seemed to grow in influence as the match went on.
7 Killian Tixeront – 6
Got through a mountain of heavy tackling, but mostly on the back foot. Odd call to sub him in 47th minute.
8. Mickael Guillard – 8
Looked great going ahead and was well worth it for the opening try. When All Blacks were cutting up with offloads in the middle of the match, rangy No 8 was one of few to bring more bash. Gutsy 80-minute shift.
9. Nolann Le Garrec – 6
Some sloppy kicking, including that 18th-minute charge-down that led to Will Jordan’s try. When the visitors did get going behind the breakdown, he proved snappy in delivery.
10. Joris Segonds – 6
Another debutant. Kicked early, often and mostly accurately, but the men outside him looked great when having a go with ball in hand. Great link work to put Villiere through at start of second half. Why so much of le boot, monsieur?
11. Gabin Villiere – 7
Won a smart ruck penalty, when All Blacks forwards really should have sorted him out; he later bagged a turnover under his own posts. Ran a terrific line on short finish for his try. Yellow card was unfortunate, but fair enough.
12. Gaël Fickou (c) – 7
Skipper was one of the few tourists with meaningful international experience (95 caps). Toiled hard and rallied his young troops with vigour when the defence had to scramble.
13. Emilien Gailleton – 6
A night of busy defence. Should have snotted Will Jordan when he went in for his second try – mind you, plenty of top footy players have been stitched up by the Cantab.
14. Tom Spring – 6
Kiwi-Frog follows in decent footsteps of Tony Marsh. Dashed off his line to tackle well and was calm when sorting out the occasional high ball.
15. Théo Attissogbe – 9
Best on show. Arrived with a big reputation and justified it with his energy and dash. Lovely running and important tidying-up in the busy late stages. Billy Proctor is probably too young to remember Serge Blanco, but he got a taste of the classic when the French No 15 jersey wafted out of reach in build-up to opening try.
Reserves:
16. Pierre Bourgarit – 7
17. Paul Mallez – 7
18. Regis Montagne – 7
19. Romain Taofifenua – 5
20. Cameron Woki – 7
21. Jacobus van Tonder – 7
22. Baptiste Jauneau – 5
23. Antoine Hastoy – 6