All Blacks v France: Five takeaways as ‘midfield king’ Jordie Barrett saves the day after first half controversies
Du'Plessis Kirifi celebrates scoring a try and an inset of All Blacks centre Jordie Barrett.
Following the All Blacks’ 29-19 victory over France, here are our five takeaways from the action in Hamilton.
The top line
Once again, New Zealand versus France threw up a thriller as the All Blacks came back from a first-half deficit to dominate the second half in Hamilton, grabbing two tries to nil in a powerful second set from their carriers and forwards.
France, without 25 or 26 of their first-choice players due to Top 14 scheduling, gave the All Blacks the scare of their lives in the first half with their power and physicality and only a last ditch and rather controversial try before the whistle allowed the hosts to go into the sheds at half-time within touching distance.
But a magnificent impact from the New Zealand bench turned the match around in the second period, as the finishers, led by Jordie Barrett and Fletcher Newell in the set-piece, were far superior to those that France could field and it was that 23-man depth that gave the All Blacks the resources they needed to close a tightly fought Test match out.
The New Zealand tries came from Will Jordan, Anton Lienert-Brown, Du’Plessis Kirifi and Brodie McAlister, with Nolann le Garrec, outstanding all night, crossing for Les Bleus.
France will leave New Zealand beaten but not unhappy. Their youngsters stood up to one of the biggest tests, the All Blacks away, and acquitted themselves quite superbly at times. However, like the two Tests previously, the longer the games went on, the further France dropped off, perhaps a reflection of the size of player they fielded, and also a comparative lack of bench depth.
Barrett’s impact
New Zealand might want to thank the evergreen brilliance of replacement Jordie Barrett for getting them over the line in this Test match.
Coming on for Quinn Tupaea in the 54th minute the Leinster centre was brilliant, making key clean breaks, some thundering tackles and some massive carries.
It was his last-ditch tackle in the corner when France were mounting a comeback in the 61st minute that prevented the visitors from taking the lead again, as he crashed into the corner flag from the midfield to take out Leo Barre as he had a blade of grass between him and try time. Not only was it a wonderful piece of covering defence, but to execute the perfect textbook tackle under pressure as Barrett did was skills out of the highest drawer.
And when New Zealand needed points against a tiring French defence to take the game to close, it was Jordie and his casual running style that did the job. Coming into the line after seven tiring phases of French defence, Barrett ghosted through their midfield, before offloading brilliantly for McAlister to trundle in under the posts.
New Zealand might be struggling to find heirs to various thrones, but there’s little doubt that the king of their midfield is the brilliant Barrett and once again, the big centre pulled his side from the brink of defeat exactly when they needed him most.
Power and Kick
This was a match that demonstrated supreme power from France, some brilliant work by New Zealand in repelling that French effort and wonderful work in the air from both teams.
Some of the aerial skills demonstrated from the wings, in particular Sevu Reece and Gabin Villiere, were sensational. Reece was a pest in the French airways all evening, grabbing restarts, competing on box kicks, and was absolutely key in providing the All Blacks with both a platform and surety, and grabbing a key turnover to boot, in a rounded display of his craft.
For France, Villere matched Reece in the restarts, claiming a key restart and generally defending for his life, and at 15 Barre put his Wellington woes behind him in an outstanding display at full-back.
The All Blacks will be delighted at the way their scrummage went, exposing France in the one area where they lack depth – tighthead – and giving Demba Bamba a torrid time after he replaced the veteran Rabah Slimini.
But their lineout was nowhere near at Test standard, losing three of their own throws and overthrowing on two crucial occasions, one on their own line. You can put this down to new hookers coming in and throwing to locks and systems they’re learning, but when the Rugby Championship starts, Los Pumas, Wallabies and Springboks will be licking their lips at that part of the malfunctioning Kiwi set-piece.
Above all, it was the directness of the All Black carrying in contact that was the key difference; Ardie Savea led the charge with a massive 19 carries for 74 metres and five defenders beaten, but alongside him, Patrick Tuipulotu, Fabian Holland, Samipeni Finau and Reece all carried more than any other single Frenchman, all of the New Zealanders hitting 12 or more, something matched only for France by Pierre Bougarit and Mickael Guillard.
Contentious calls
France conceded two tries in the first half, one from Jordan and one in the dying moments of half, as Lienert-Brown crashed over on the beep of the referee’s whistle.
It was a cruel blow to Les Bleus who dominated the All Blacks physically yet turned around with only a two-point lead at 19-17.
The first Jordan try had question marks over it as a clear lazy runner blocked Gael Fickou’s attempted tackle in midfield. Angus Gardner waved play on, but replays demonstrated that Fickou’s claims had a degree of merit, albeit momentarily in a very fast passage of play.
Would it have made a significant difference? It depends on which colour shirt you wear, and whilst the Fickou may have made a hit, would it have actually had any impact on the move? It was a hard call and one that perhaps on balance understandably went to the attacking side.
However, there was no such marginality over the second incident, an absolutely killer blow to France, but an awful error from the officials.
Dropping out from under their posts, France kicked deep and as New Zealand countered, Jordan, from a stationary position, threw a long speculative pass out to the left wing, a pass that was clearly at least a metre forward. There was no question of momentum taking the ball forward since Jordan had executed it from a near standstill of a position, and therefore the only momentum on the ball came from the pass itself.
It was a staggering omission from the official team, clear and obvious as you like, and France’s disappointment at the call was equally as clear and obvious as the transgression itself.
The real France
There’s been so much talk about the strength of this French side, and a lot of criticism from the New Zealand public towards Les Bleus for sending a less than full strength team.
The simple truth, like it or not, is that the Top 14 season in France cuts into the Test window by two weeks and there’s little than can be done, given the workload placed upon the French players. As a simple example, the Toulouse squad, who provide some 13 or 14 French test players, played seven days before this series commenced. Factor in a day or two’s flying to New Zealand and there’s simply no way that those players should even have been criticised for not being available to tour.
Nevertheless, the team that toured gave everything, and but for some very close calls, might have had a bigger return from this series. To Fabien Galthie’s delight, he’s been able to experiment with some incredible young talent, allowing them the rare experience of an intense series against one of the very best Tier One nations, and that bodes well for France’s 2027 Rugby World Cup campaign.
We’ve seen Guillard demonstrate just what a great back five talent he is, a truly world class player in the making; alongside him Alexandre Fischer has put his hand up on the flank to add even more depth to France’s stocks in the back-row, somewhere where they’re absolutely stacked with gifted and big men.
At half-back, Antoine Hastoy and Le Garrec were outstanding, showing a real kicking edge to the French game, with Le Garrec arguably the best player on either side during the series, another off the scrum-half conveyer belt. Add in some promise in the third Test from Barre, a consistent series from Theo Attisogbe, and a very understated but impactful showing from Josh Brennan and it’s clear France will benefit greatly from this tour.
Are they a B team? On balance, there’s probably too many established French Test players like Le Garrec, Guillard and Fickou to really call it that, but there’s no doubt that there’s another 25 players back in France that will be part of their Test campaign as they move into Rugby World Cup 2027.
