The clash of the weekend will see Le Bleu square off with the All Blacks at the Stade de France. The last time these two sides met was during the pool phase of last year’s World Cup with the hosts claiming a comfortable victory over the Kiwis. Darry Worthington previews.
Autumn Nations Series
France v New Zealand
Saturday 16 November – 22:10
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
There’s a bit of added spice to this one with French head coach Fabien Galthie insisting he will not take a full-strength side to tour New Zealand next year, which has left New Zealand Rugby fuming. The French have won the last two meetings between the sides, the most recent of which was that famous World Cup opener at this venue last year, which saw France run out 27-13 victors.
To Win Match
France 79/100 | Draw 22/1 | All Blacks 21/20
Handicap
France (-1.5) 9/10 | All Blacks (+1.5) 9/10
The hosts will be looking to continue their impressive run of form against the All Blacks this Saturday. They’ve beaten the Kiwis in their last two encounters. A 40-22 win in the 2021 Autumn Nations Series was followed up by the Pool A World Cup win last year.
The Kiwis head into this one looking to make it six wins on the trot. They haven’t lost since going down 18-12 to the Springboks in Cape Town and have registered some solid results including a 28-31 away win and a 33-13 home win over a vastly improved Aussie outfit, a 22-24 victory over England at Twickenham and their most recent – and arguably the most impressive – last weekend’s 13-23 victory over the Irish at the Aviva.
Things are certainly looking up for Scott Robertson’s men and while he will be delighted to have guided his country to their first win in Ireland in just short of eight years, he will be even more pleased with how his players performed rather than result.
Damien McKenzie – who I foolishly wrote off last weekend – finally delivered on the Test stage. He will have to be content with a place on the bench, however, with Baueden Barrett returning from concussion to start at 10. Wallace Sititi, who caught the eye last week, starts at 8 with Sam Cane injured. That means Ardie Savea will don the No 7 jersey.
The Kiwi lineout also functioned a lot better with Asafa Aumua nailing his darts throughout the contest, however, Codie Taylor’s return to the starting XV means that he will also have to make do with a spot on the timber.
Over to Les Bleus now and the hosts have played far less rugby in recent months. They’ve also mixed things up again this year with Fabien Glathie taking his second stringers on the mid-year tour to South America where they recorded a drawn series with Argentina. A handful of first-stringers came back in this past weekend and showed their class as the French hammered Japan 52-12.
While Japan is by no means a world-class side, they did provide a good opportunity for some senior statesmen to dust the international rugby cobwebs off including centre Gael Fickou, who is likely to start this weekend having played off the bench last.
It’ll be interesting to see how debtant Romain Buros of Bordeaux gets on this weekend. The full-back will make his Test debut as part of the run-on side and forms part of a deadly back three that includes Gabin Villiere and Louis Bielle-Biarrey.
Verdict: New Zealand (+1.5) 9/10
I reckon this one will be tight as they come. As such, I’ll be backing the Kiwis to stay inside a small handicap.
