All Blacks No 8 Rodney So'oialo (centre) after the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final between New Zealand and France. Photo / Brett Phibbs
All Blacks No 8 Rodney So'oialo (centre) after the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final between New Zealand and France. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Stats indicate les Bleus may have cleaned up their act in recent years.
Warnings about French foul play followed them up to the last World Cup in New Zealand.
Former All Black great Wayne Shelford acknowledged rugby behaviour had improved because of greater scrutiny but also warned France could resort to dirty tactics if they were desperate.
Shelford was the victim of aparticularly vicious attack in 1986 and pointed to their shady work which upset the All Blacks at the 1999 and 2007 World Cups.
Since the sides met in the 2011 decider, when New Zealand squeezed home by a point, the All Blacks have been much more prominent in the misbehaviour registers.
They have played 51 tests since they won the Webb Ellis Cup and received 25 yellow cards. At this World Cup, captain Richie McCaw, Conrad Smith and Kieran Read have been sinbinned while France, in the eyes of over-zealous referees, television and judicial officers, have been blemish-free.
In their 44 tests since the 2011 RWC final, France have had 10 players put in the sinbin and two players sent off.
New Zealand referee Glen Jackson red-carded lock Yoann Maestri in 2013 when a serious fight began after earlier skirmishes. Maestri appeared to take the first hit before he retaliated and, with Tonga's Sona Taumalolo, was ordered off.
The judiciary concurred with that version of events and Maestri's sending off was deemed a sufficient penalty.
How we treated the French tactics in the lead-up to the 2011 final.
A year later, on the advice of touch-judge Craig Joubert, French prop Rabah Slimani was sent off after being head-butted by his opposite, Michele Rizzo, and responding with similar violence. They were both banned for two weeks.
Slimani and Maestri have each been sinbinned for other incidents.
The All Blacks have lost Read to the sinbin three times since 2011; McCaw, Sam Whitelock, Wyatt Crockett, Ben Franks and Israel Dagg have been shown a yellow card twice.
Nine of the All Black side picked to play against France in the sudden-death playoff test in Cardiff on Sunday have been sinbinned since 2011. Only Ben Smith, Nehe-Milner-Skudder, Julian Savea, Daniel Carter, Jerome Kaino and Owen Franks from the starting XV have avoided the referee's displeasure.
