QF2: New Zealand v France, 17 October

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NEW ZEALAND v FRANCE

17 October 2015
KO: 20:00 BST (UTC+01)
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Live on telly

Ref: Nigel Owens (Wales)
ARs: Jaco Peyper (South Africa) and John Lacey (Ireland)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

A. Head to Head

55 Played 55
42 Won 12
1 Drawn 1
12 Lost 42
1,345 Points 713

B. Recent Form

9 November 2013
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
19 – 26 to New Zealand

22 June 2013
Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth
24 – 9 to New Zealand

15 June 2013
Rugby League Park, Christchurch
30 – 0 to New Zealand

8 June 2013
Eden Park, Auckland
23 – 13 to New Zealand

23 October 2011
Eden Park, Auckland
8 – 7 to New Zealand

24 September 2011
Eden Park, Auckland
37 – 17 to New Zealand

28 November 2009
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
12 – 39 to New Zealand

20 June 2009
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
14 – 10 to New Zealand

13 June 2009
Carisbrook, Dunedin
22 – 27 to France

6 October 2007
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales
18 – 20 to France

C. TEAMS:

NEW ZEALAND

Ben Smith; Nehe Milner-Skudder, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Julian Savea; Dan Carter, Aaron Smith; Wyatt Crockett, Dane Coles, Owen Franks, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw (capt), Kieran Read.

Replacements: Keven Mealamu, Joe Moody, Charlie Faumuina, Victor Vito, Sam Cane, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Beauden Barrett, Sonny Bill Williams

FRANCE

Scott Spedding; Noa Nakaitaci, Alexandre Dumoulin, Wesley Fofana, Brice Dulin; Frederic Michalak, Morgan Parra; Eddy Ben Arous, Guilhem Guirado, Rabah Slimani, Pascal Pape, Yoann Maestri, Thierry Dusautoir (capt), Bernard Le Roux, Louis Picamoles.

Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski, Vincent Debaty, Nicolas Mas, Damien Chouly, Yannick Nyanga, Rory Kockott, Remi Tales, Mathieu Bastareaud

Wow big win by NZ 62-13. But not their biggest against a top country

NZ's biggest winning margins
Argentina 85 (1997)
Australia 37 (1996)
England 42 (1998)
France 51(2007)
Ireland 60 (2012)
Italy 98 (1999)
Scotland 49 (2000)
South Africa 36 (2003)

France seemed to give up with 20 mins to go which is a bit sad

Duty281 wrote:

goneagain wrote:Great display by NZ.

Looks like a couple of posters went 'full special' tonight.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

It seems if you post a legitimate point of view against Richie McCaw or the New Zealand rugby team, you will be labelled as 'bitter' and a 'troll', from people who seemingly have very little clue about how to conduct a discussion beyond pathetically resorting to insults.

Who called you "bitter" or a "troll" Duty281? I didnt see that.

'Notch' and 'AFewTooManyKnocks'.

Notch wrote:Um, yes duty that's what the penalty was for. And then Picamoles punched him in the face which supersedes his offence.

Gotta love people so bitter about New Zealand

AFewTooManyKnocks wrote:You're either a blatant troll, or you have no clue about rugby at all.

Quit the pathetic trolling

Wow they did too. fancy that!

It says a lot that this NZ team scored more points against France, a top 8 side, then any of their opponents managed to score against amateurs like Uruguay.

I can't see them losing this tournament tbh.

At 52:34 a French player stamps on Kaino's head on the ground. Nice.

I did not expect the score line to be so big yesterday to be honest.

Did France actualy turn up yesterday?

NO, Team as won the world cup back to back. After that display yesterday if NZ do not win the world cup then who ever does will have truly deserved it.

I really cannot see any team bar New Zealand wining it.

Duty281 wrote:



It seems if you post a legitimate point of view against Richie McCaw or the New Zealand rugby team, you will be labelled as 'bitter' and a 'troll', from people who seemingly have very little clue about how to conduct a discussion beyond pathetically resorting to insults.

Duty,

Its simple with Notch. Just tell him you think Jared Payne is the greatest Irish 13 since BOD and all will be good. Your opinions will be then be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

It's ok Duty, I thought you were trolling. Like a dog with a bone. Quins on the other hand, well that was too strange for words. I hope he's ok.

Well, with the Picamoles/McCaw incident - I felt McCaw should have seen yellow for two cynical pieces of play within seconds of each other - but Picamoles should have seen red.

I actually didn't think that France played that badly in the first half, they were simply outclassed by the AB's. In the second half I also don't think that they gave up, they were knackered and the AB's just found more energy.

Fantastic result for the AB's and one of the finest displays of clinical rugby I have seen in some time

Jeez! These are just opinions, everyone's a troll, if you don't like what some people have to say just ignore them . Sometimes I think me and Billly are the only balanced and reasoned posters on here   . Great game last night just respect the power and skill of the Blacks. It's a one off and these things happen. Also a great game between SA and Wales yesterday. I'm looking forward to more lively debate later

Well that was um, humiliating.

Personally I think its good for the boks. You don't want a NZ team with a point to prove. Many think the boks won't stand a chance... I beg to differ on that. But this kiwi side are bang on form. Its an everest times two conquest.

I'd say half the points NZ scored were due to the French not give a s***. The rest though (and its still 30 points) was clinical rugby at its finest.  

Michelak should never wear the shirt again though. Oh I've pulled my hammy.. as soon as he got charged down before we saw Michelak go down a load of us in the bar said he would suddenly feign an injury after retallick shamed him.

That pain he felt wasn't a torn hamstring, it was pride.

What amazes me about the ABs is that they don't do anything fancy - they generally just ship the ball along the line but because they are all running straight, the passes go exactly in front of the man, they commit the defender and run with pace they regularly create opportunities. They may do the odd miss pass or dummy runner, but that's it!

Compare that to how Scotland play this afternoon - I guarantee there will be loads of dummy runners, elaborate switch plays and fancy moves that are most likely to end up with us just shuffling across the pitch

SA will be a very different beast for the AB's next week though and certainly will be a lot more competitive at the breakdown.

A great performance from the AB's but it will matter nought next week against SA so I don't believe that its a foregone conclusion that the AB's will be in the final.

I think all neutrals will be cheering the Bok on.

fa0019 wrote:Well that was um, humiliating.

Personally I think its good for the boks. You don't want a NZ team with a point to prove. Many think the boks won't stand a chance... I beg to differ on that. But this kiwi side are bang on form. Its an everest times two conquest.

I'd say half the points NZ scored were due to the French not give a s***. The rest though (and its still 30 points) was clinical rugby at its finest.  

Michelak should never wear the shirt again though. Oh I've pulled my hammy.. as soon as he got charged down before we saw Michelak go down a load of us in the bar said he would suddenly feign an injury after retallick shamed him.

That pain he felt wasn't a torn hamstring, it was pride.

Felt exactly the same. It certainly didn't look as if he hurt himself and he does have a history of feigning injuries when things don't go his way.

fa0019 wrote:Well that was um, humiliating.

Personally I think its good for the boks. You don't want a NZ team with a point to prove. Many think the boks won't stand a chance... I beg to differ on that. But this kiwi side are bang on form. Its an everest times two conquest.

I'd say half the points NZ scored were due to the French not give a s***. The rest though (and its still 30 points) was clinical rugby at its finest.  

Michelak should never wear the shirt again though. Oh I've pulled my hammy.. as soon as he got charged down before we saw Michelak go down a load of us in the bar said he would suddenly feign an injury after retallick shamed him.

That pain he felt wasn't a torn hamstring, it was pride.

If you watch the play again Michalak was injured before the kick in the previous phase, he was just desperate to get rid of the ball.

Missed that Guru, thought he looked fine leading up to the kick and went down with embarrassment...

My apologies to him if he was injured.

Contrary opinions are not trolling even if you disagree with the poster strongly. Trolling deliberatly setting out to wind folk up.

eirebilly wrote:Missed that Guru, thought he looked fine leading up to the kick and went down with embarrassment...

My apologies to him if he was injured.

They showed him getting inured just before the kick in the after match analysis when he limped out of a ruck

For what it's worth I think the score line wasn't helped by France actually trying to play more rugby instead of kicking long for touch etc and from the KOs, they just naively played into the Blacks hands rather than gave up for me. I also think the blacks had some unFinished business from 8 years ago deep down

Well I don't tire of seeing such well worked tries and some sublime offloads with powerful running. Excellent display by the AB's.

I dont think you can ignore that this was a shocking display by France and that contributed to the way New Zealand clicked. French national rugby is about as low as it's possible to get.

The most impressive thing about the AB's is their ability to do the basics so well. The handling and distribution skills are way beyond other teams. Carter's game management and kicking was majestic. The set piece was excellent. Most of the backline moves were very simple. I love the obsession with the basics and simple rugby.

It's wrong to talk about SH dominance - Australia and South Africa do not have the ability to play consistently at the level seen today. They are good teams, hard to beat but much close to the better NH teams. The AB's don't seem to sacrifice any power when they execute such high skill levels. In recent years we have seen many teams unable to get past the power game and play boring one dimensional rugby. There is plenty of space in the modern game for teams that can create and exploit it.

It will take an exceptional performance to beat NZ this month, probably combined with a bad day at the office.

What a treat to watch that performance, makes such a difference to the usual, "hugely physical matches" usually because the sides have very little attacking imagination. Savea is like Lomu, just a better rugby player! DC what can you say, even past his prime and his advancing years he's still an absolute genius at 10, i started watching rugby in 1999 and there is no question he is the best player i've seen. Magic, i can't wait for the semi, at least the Boks will bring something to the breakdown though their lack of gamebreaking ability will hurt them.

In some ways a rather strange match the first Scrum was on the 52 minute mark.
There has been a lot of critique about the performances of Savea,Read,and Carter
so a good game was required.
Critics say they`ve peaked and the other side did`nt turn up anyway,all they`re
saying is we`ve earned another week.
Since the first game,think they`ve only attempted one penalty shot in the last 4
games

yappysnap wrote:I think all neutrals will be cheering the Bok on.

Not very neutral then eh?
Do you ever cheer on the ABs?