Sean Fitzpatrick: Staunch front needed against team willing to bend rules

No matter what happens in this morning's match, you'll get an idea of the physical commitment needed to play the French. I remember running out to face France in 1989 at Auckland. As I did so, I saw their two props, Pascal Ondarts and Jean-Pierre Garuet. They were bleeding from the forehead.

They had not even started the game and they were bleeding. They had been head-butting the wall in the changing room and, when I saw them, they were head-butting each other. It is not unknown in the French game for the players to wind up for the match this way - it is alien to us but they derive something from it, something which brings them to a peak in their challenge to the All Blacks.

It is intimidating - you take the field, marking up against these guys who have blood pouring down their faces from self-inflicted wounds and you think to yourself: "What am I doing here?" It does make it difficult to retain your focus.

I also remember Garuet from my first year - in 1986 - when we played the French and I was a 23-year-old. He was not a huge man but he was strong and technically highly skilled. As the scrums went down that day, he bored in on me with his head and broke two of my ribs. It wasn't with the impact of the two scrums meeting or anything like that, it was just the pressure that goes on you when a prop bores in and traps you in an awkward position.

I saw Garuet recently at Agen, at a reunion based around the 1994 team that beat the All Blacks 2-0. He leaned across to me and said: "Is my head still in your ribs?"

I think I lost more games to France than any other rugby nation during my career. They are a whole new physical challenge. They are always strong against us and always mentally strong. Back in those days - and I am sure in these days - there was a degree of arrogance there. They always felt like they had nothing to lose and played with a free spirit that we found hard to deal with at times. And a Frenchman who thinks he can win is a very different customer from one who believes he can't.

Back in the Garuet and Ondarts days - and he was another very tough customer I played against for most of my career - the All Blacks made a pact that we would not be intimidated, that we would get our retaliation in first and that we would stay mentally strong and together.

That's why I liked the selection of Anton Oliver and Norm Maxwell for this test. They won't stand for any nonsense.

I am reminded of the 1999 All Black who came off the field after the famous semi-final loss to the French during the Rugby World Cup and complained of the French grabbing his testicles and scratching his eyes. There's no point in coming off and saying that after the fact. Sort it out. I took as much as I gave during my career and, if you are in the line of fire against a side like the French, you have to match fire with fire. There is no other way. The French have a huge respect for the All Blacks but they will push the law to the limit.

If the All Blacks are to win today, that's what they'll need to do too.

That is also why I was flabbergasted to hear some of the talk coming out of the All Black camp that they weren't big or strong enough to play the forward confrontation game.

Carl Hayman's a man mountain. Woodcock's big. Somerville's big. Chris Jack is about as big as they get. Norm Maxwell is big and hard. You add a bit of All Black attitude and I don't see any reason why they can't compete up front.

We have got the players to dominate Northern hemisphere sides but we must have that hard-nosed attitude that we will not take a step backwards at any stage. This All Black team needs to put a stake in the ground and say that we mean business.