All Blacks come from behind against brave French effort as debutant scores match-sealing try to sweep the series
All Blacks wing Will Jordan scoring against France.
New Zealand had to come from behind to defeat a dogged France 29-19 at FMG Stadium Waikato on Saturday in a result that wraps up a 3-0 series victory over Les Bleus.
Tries from Will Jordan, Anton Lienert-Brown, Du’Plessis Kirifi and Brodie McAlister, coupled by nine points from Damian McKenzie’s boot, saw the All Blacks prevail.
France were excellent for large parts in Hamilton with scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec scoring 16 points that included a crossing while Antoine Hastoy struck a drop-goal.
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The All Blacks were looking to pick up a clean sweep in this series, which has been under the spotlight ever since rumours of France’s squad intentions were made clear.
Scott Robertson’s outfit had to deal with some late disruption to their line-up after Luke Jacobson pulled out injured in the warm-up, which meant Ardie Savea shifted to number eight and Kirifi was handed his first start on the openside. That freed up a place on the replacements bench where Christian Lio-Willie wore jersey 20.
The game started in entertaining fashion and after an early All Blacks foray, it was in fact France who struck first on nine minutes, Le Garrec scrambling over at the back of a maul on the right wing before converting his own score. That was an early marker thrown down, confirming that this France team in Test III was a genuine threat.
Clearly rattled, the hosts gift wrapped a further three points for Les Bleus after Savea attempted a chip kick in his own 22 that resulted in Le Garrec nudging it to 10-0.
That penalty took the scoring up a notch in its frequency as on 21 minutes, a smart kick into open space from Cortez Ratima saw wing Jordan win the foot race as New Zealand cut the gap to three points before Hastoy knocked over a smart drop-goal for the French soon after to make it 13-7. Suddenly, every attack had real potential.
The concern for New Zealand was the frequency France were adding to their tally, as two further Le Garrec penalties after a McKenzie effort made it a nine-point cushion.
Crucially, though, the All Blacks struck with the clock in the red at the end of the opening half when Lienert-Brown slid over the whitewash to make it 19-17 at the interval.
France looked to keep the scoreboard ticking shortly after the restart, but this time Hastoy’s drop-goal attempt was dragged wide before New Zealand looked to counter.
However, tenacious French defence was evident again, typified by Gabin Villiere who won his side a ruck penalty that was also off-target from Le Garrec from distance.
Two lifelines for the All Blacks who then sent on front-row replacements including debutant McAlister at hooker, with boss Robertson eyeing a response from his side.
But France’s resolve in defence was something to admire as they continued to frustrate the hosts, Mickaël Guillard this time denying Patrick Tuipulotu a try out wide.
Finally, though New Zealand got their score when a McKenzie grubber caused chaos in-goal and Kirifi was on hand to gather and ground for the try before the hour.
At 22-19, the match was far from over, but the All Blacks had their noses in front for the first time in the contest. Les Bleus though were still enjoying opportunities.
As time wore on, however, New Zealand were starting to gain dominance and Dalton Papali’i went agonisingly close to crossing as the hosts had a spell of territory.
Finally, they got their reward as debutant McAlister slid over for a game-sealing try that must have felt incredible after the All Blacks’ lineout had been struggling.
McKenzie would send over the conversion attempt to add the gloss as New Zealand had seen off an impressive France side to take this series in a 3-0 whitewash.
The teams
All Blacks: 15 Ruben Love, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Quinn Tupaea, 11 Sevu Reece, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Ardie Savea (c), 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6 Samipeni Finau, 5 Fabian Holland, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements: 16 Brodie McAlister, 17 George Bower, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Dalton Papali’i, 20 Christian Lio-Willie 21 Noah Hotham, 22 Timoci Tavatavanawai, 23 Jordie Barrett
France: 15 Léo Barré, 14 Théo Attissogbé, 13 Nicolas Depoortère, 12 Gaël Fickou (c), 11 Gabin Villière, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Nolann Le Garrec, 8 Mickaël Guillard, 7 Joshua Brennan, 6 Alexandre Fischer, 5 Matthias Halagahu, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Pierre Bourgarit, 1 Baptiste Erdocio
Replacements: 16 Gaëtan Barlot, 17 Paul Mallez, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Romain Taofifénua, 20 Killian Tixeront, 21 Pierre Bochaton, 22 Thibault Daubagna, 23 Émilien Gailleton
Referee: Angus Gardner (RA)
Assistant referees: Damian Schneider (UAR), Takehito Namekawa (JRFU)
TMO: Brett Cronan (RA)
FPRO: Damon Murphy (RA)