Silky skills, crushing power and a ding-dong on the scoreboard lapped up by a sold-out Saturday-night crowd: this was a vintage instalment of a classic fixture that went right down to the wire.
The scrum-half Antoine Dupont may have looked a little rusty on his second outing for France since his sevens sojourn at the Paris Olympics but Thomas Ramos, who kicked 15 points, was as dependable as ever. Ardie Savea was a monumental presence with his punishing carries for New Zealand but the pace of Louis Bielle-Biarrey proved more potent in the final reckoning.
Fabien Galthié’s side started like a speeding locomotive and thanks to a smart tap-back by Gabin Villière on the French left, they were rumbling deep into the New Zealand 22 when the prop Tevita Tatafu knocked on.
Ramos, selected at fly-half alongside Dupont with the debutant Romain Buros starting at full-back, soon punished New Zealand with a penalty from halfway to open the scoring. Tyrel Lomax had been penalised at a scrum, and it was an early warning that the metronomic kicker would ruthlessly punish any indiscipline.
The back-rower Peter Lakai had come off the bench early for his second cap due to an HIA for Samipeni Finau, who was injured trying to tackle Tatafu in that first French raid into the visitors’ territory. When New Zealand built a quicksilver attack down their left wing, the irrepressible Savea cut inside and crashed through several weak attempted tackles before offloading to the Hurricanes No 8, Lakai, who flopped over.
Scott Barrett, the All Blacks head coach, had declared their intention to spoil Dupont’s ball and the plan paid off handsomely when Cam Roigard somehow snaffled an attempted Grégory Alldritt offload intended for Dupont and raced over the try-line after a French defensive scrum. It was a sign of the visitors getting on top of their hosts at the set-piece.
Some of the French tackling would have distinctly displeased Shaun Edwards, the defence coach, but there was nothing wrong with Les Bleus’ attack and a slick, muscular finish by Buros five minutes after Roigard’s opportunistic effort clawed the hosts back some way on the scoreboard.
Beauden Barrett stroked over a penalty and the half-time numbers did not look healthy for France: they had missed 17 tackles while Scott Barrett’s side had enjoyed 62% possession. It was a seven-point game at the break.
Galthié may have had a fusée (rocket, that is) for his players at half-time because they were level within five minutes of the restart, the blindside flanker Paul Boudenhent touching down after a power-packed driving maul. Ramos added the extras.
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Then, when a New Zealand move broke down in midfield and Ramos nudged a delightful grubber kick in behind, Bielle-Biarrey’s electric pace was too much for the defensive cover. He scooped up the ball, dived over and celebrated riotously; a seven-point deficit had become a seven-point lead within 11 second-half minutes. It was clever from Ramos, who knew Bielle-Biarrey’s speed would be capitalised on with a clinical kick.
Damien McKenzie, another metronome off the kicking tee, came off the bench and reduced the All Blacks’ deficit to four before Ramos again made it a seven-pointer with another penalty of his own.
As Scott Barrett emptied his bench for the denouement, another couple of McKenzie penalties meant there was one point in with 10 minutes remaining. It felt significant when Ofa Tu’ungafasi was pulled up by the TMO for a high hit, gifting the immaculate Ramos the chance to stroke over his sixth penalty – only for McKenzie, again, to claw it back.
Another kick-through and another foot race – this time between Bielle-Biarrey and Savea – had the crowd on the their feet, and ended with France penalised, but they had the territory, and clung on for a scintillating win.
