“It’s been a long time since we played the All Blacks at this level.“Fabien Galthié, the coach of the French team, knew, before the match, the challenge that awaited his team against the All Blacks, Saturday November 16 at the Stade de France. The content of the match kept all its promises for a victory of the Blues at the end of an unbearable suspense (30-29).
A victory for history. In history, France had only had three consecutive victories against this opponent once, during a tour of New Zealand in 1994 then a match in Toulouse in 1995. By winning at the Stade de France , Fabien Galthié’s men therefore equaled the best series of a French team against the Kiwis after their success in 2021 (40-25) and success in the opening match of the World Cup in 2023 (27- 13).
• End of series for the All Blacks. New Zealand had arrived in Europe with new certainties, and their start to the tour had allowed them to build up their confidence. After beating Australia twice (31-28 and 33-13), Japan (64-19), England (24-22) and Ireland (23-13), the series of five successes of Scott Robertson’s men stopped in Paris, against the Blues.
• A heroic defense. 208 tackles made, 34 missed. These are the two figures which sum up the appearance of the match on the French side, and their main weapon to win. The French defended, defended a lot, suffered a lot, but they only failed twice, to leave Peter Lakai and Cam Roigard on trial. For its part, New Zealand tackled 111 times, with 12 misses.
Belgium
