First All Black test of the season approaches
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RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
All Blacks v France: what you need to know about tonight's test season opener
All Blacks v France Kick-off: 7:05pm Saturday 5 July Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin Live blog updates on RNZ After a long and intriguing Super Rugby Pacific season, we've finally arrived at the first test of the year. Scott Robertson's All Blacks take on an unknown quantity in France in front of a full house under the roof at Forsyth Barr Stadium, with the head coach making some interesting selections for this one. France come in after winning this year's Six Nations tournament. However, their last game was back in March and while it was a comfortable win over Scotland, Fabien Galthié's side is much changed since then. Scott Robertson. Photo: Alan Lee / All Blacks: 1. Ethan de Groot, 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Fletcher Newell, 4. Scott Barrett, 5. Fabian Holland, 6. Tupou Vaa'i, 7. Ardie Savea, 8, Christian Lio-Willie, 9. Cameron Roigard, 10. Beauden Barrett, 11. Rieko Ioane, 12. Jordie Barrett, 13. Billy Proctor, 14. Sevu Reece, 15. Will Jordan Bench: 16. Samisoni Taukei'aho, 17. Ollie Norris, 18. Pasilio Tosi, 19. Samipeni Finau, 20. Du'Plessis Kirifi, 21. Cortez Ratima, 22. Quinn Tupaea, 23. Damian McKenzie France: 1. Giorgi Beria, 2. Gaetan Garlot, 3. Rabah Slimani, 4. Hugo Auradou, 5. Tyler Duguid, 6. Alexandre Fischer, 7. Killian Tixeront, 8. Mickael Guillard, 9. Nolann Le Garrec, 10. Joris Segonds, 11. Gabin Villiere, 12. Gaël Fickou (c), 13. Emilien Gailleton, 14. Tom Spring, 15. Theo Attissogbe Bench: 16. Pierre Bourgarit, 17. Paul Mallez, 18. Regis Montagne, 19. Romain Taofifenua, 20. Cameron Woki, 21. Jacobus van Tonder, 22. Baptiste Jauneau, 23. Antoine Hastoy Fabian Holland. Photo: Joe Toth/ActionPress A lot to unpack here, with Robertson surprisingly making some big moves for this selection. Fabian Holland goes straight into the starting second row on debut, while Christian Lio-Willie will be right behind him in the scrum for his first test too. Beauden Barrett gets the starting 10 jersey, while Billy Proctor is rewarded for an excellent Hurricanes season with a start at centre. That moves Rieko Ioane back out to the wing, a position he hasn't started in since 2021. On the bench Ollie Norris and Du'Plessis Kirifi will debut at prop and loose forward, while Quinn Tupaea will complete his long road back to the All Blacks when he is injected into the game. Theo Attissogbe for the France XV. Photo:One third of the French starting team are playing their first test match: Giorgi Beria, Tyler Duguid, Alexandre Fischer, Joris Segonds and Tom Spring. If Spring doesn't sound like a typical French name, it's because his father is New Zealander Sean Spring, who moved to France to play rugby in the 1990s. Veteran Gaël Fickou's 94 caps make up about half of the total experience in the side, while Cameron Woki and Rabah Slimani are the others who have played the All Blacks before. Maxime Medard celebrates victory over the All Blacks, Carisbrook, Dunedin, 2009. Photo: Simon Watts/Photosport France have won the last three tests between the two sides, which equals their best streak achieved in 1994-95. The All Blacks' largest victory over France was notably in a World Cup elimination match. Not only was the 62-13 win a record between the two countries, it was also the All Blacks' highest score at the 2015 tournament - quite a feat considering they also played Georgia and Uruguay in pool play. France's last win in New Zealand was in Dunedin, at the old Carisbrook ground in 2009. "We expect everything from them. Nothing has changed since the end-of-year tour to the Six Nations; the style they play remains the same. They're a very good territory team; they put pressure on you, keep you in your back fence as much as possible, and force errors. They're highly disciplined." - All Black coach Scott Robertson. "Finding players for the summer tours is a challenge we've been facing for six years. I said to all the players, 'The challenge seems impossible to achieve, are you in?' and everyone who's there said yes." - France coach Fabien Galthié. France 30 - 29 All Blacks A heartbreaking loss to France ruined what was looking like a really successful run for the All Blacks on last year's northern tour. They held what should've been a match winning lead, then took a few wrong options at the business end to see the game slip through their fingers in what might be a pivotal moment in the team's World Cup cycle in terms of lessons learnt. However, due to the almost complete rotation of the French side, this game has almost zero bearing on what will happen tonight. The All Blacks will win comfortably. At least they had better, because otherwise it's going to be a tough time next week if they don't. Their intention, according to the coaching staff, is to play as fast as possible - so hopefully the officials play their part in that happening. France's best chance is to simply kick the ball into All Black territory and try and keep them there, but the amount of inexperience out there should mean they will give away plenty of ball and penalties. It will be interesting to see how much of a license Rieko Ioane has, given that he was an out and out finisher, but the role of All Black wingers lately has been to get involved in carrying close to the ruck area.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Whangārei welcomes buzz ahead of rare sporting spectacle as it hosts Māori All Blacks and Scotland
Whangārei - often quiet in mid-winter - is expected to be packed ahead of the city's biggest sporting event in years. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Excitement is building and accommodation is packed in Whangārei today ahead of the city's biggest sporting fixture in three years. The gates at Semenoff Stadium open at 12.30pm with kick-off in the Māori All Blacks versus Scotland clash due at 3.35pm. The double-header gets underway at 1.05pm when the Black Ferns take on the Black Ferns XV. It's the first time in 25 years the Māori All Blacks and Scotland have met in Whangārei. It's also the city's biggest game since New Zealand met Scotland in pool play of the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup, which was held in October 2022 due to the Covid pandemic. Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo said more than 9000 tickets had been sold as of Friday, with the final number expected to top 10,000. He said the grandstand had sold out but there was still room on the embankments. "The clash of these two nations, it hasn't happened in Whangārei for 25 years. It's going to be an epic day," he said. The influx of visitors would also mean a "huge" economic boost for the city, in mid-winter when it was most needed. "Let's put this way, I don't think there's a spare bedroom available in any of the hotels." Cocurullo said excitement about the match was heightened by the Whangārei District's strong Māori and Scottish heritage. Large numbers of Scots settled at Whangārei Heads and in Waipū in the mid-19th century, travelling from their homeland via the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Cocurullo was also excited about the Black Ferns versus Black Ferns XV opener, which he said would help decide who ended up playing for New Zealand in upcoming international matches. Northland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Leah McKerrow said the city was already buzzing on Friday, and she had spotted many supporters on the streets clad in traditional Scottish kilts. "The more we can encourage sports, entertainment and arts events into our region, the better for our economy ... anything like this is an opportunity for small businesses to pick up the extra volume of people that are around," she said. Whangārei hotels and motels RNZ spoke to on Friday were booked out and were still fielding phone calls from out-of-towners hoping to stay for the weekend. The Settlers Hotel, on Hatea Drive near the city centre, had been fully booked by the Scottish team. Pubs and cafes were also girding themselves for a big weekend. Rob Lang, of the Judge House of Ale on Walton Street, said his establishment had embraced the game by bringing in a Scottish-themed menu and decorating the bar with Scottish paraphernalia. He had brought in extra staff to deal with the expected game-night crowd. Special menu items included mince and tatties (stewed mince with mashed potato) and "stovies" (a dish made with potatoes, onions, roast meat and beef dripping) as well as some New Zealand favourites such as ika mata (raw fish salad) and snapper burgers with frybread. Lang was hopeful of hosting the Scots at some point, after the team's selectors dropped in on Thursday night to check out the premises. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
an hour ago
- Otago Daily Times
Robertson wary of unpredictability of French
Scott Robertson unintentionally gave All Blacks fans the perfect analogy to consider ahead of a test in Dunedin that could have wildly different outcomes. Robertson was asked this week how his team would approach tonight's clash with France, the first of three, at Forsyth Barr Stadium. The second-year All Blacks coach furrowed his brow and trained his intense eyes on the questioner before summing up the situation. "You just want to start well, and I think that's important as a group. "There's always going to be a storyline, depending on what happens after the first or second game, so we want to write the story early and get into it." And what will that story be? Will it be the newish-looking All Blacks letting rip in the first test of the season and scoring some cracking tries under the roof? Will it be an echo of the past few tests in Dunedin and feature a rather underwhelming performance by the men in black that ends with a squeaky win? Or, merde, will it be some sort of Stephen King horror tale, that of a written-off bunch of plucky Frenchmen shocking the mighty All Blacks with an upset from the ends of the earth? This first chapter of Scott Robertson: Book Two rests so much on the great unknown of what to expect from a French team shorn of most of their leading players thanks to workload concerns. The facts do not lie — this is a vastly under-strength visiting team, and the All Blacks will start as almost unbackable favourites — but Robertson, as he must, is wary of what world rugby's most unpredictable nation will deliver. "They've got a blend of experience and also the youth. And it can be dangerous when expectations are off a little bit. "They can turn up, and we give full respect to whoever is put in front of us on Saturday." French rugby had a "clear DNA", Robertson said. "We learned that last year, and nothing's really changed. "They're a very good territory team, they put pressure on you, they keep you on your back fence as much as they possibly can, and they force errors. "They can also get the ball away and they're quick and they've got speed and youth." The All Blacks can never take any test or series lightly. That is the reality of being expected to win, all the time and every time, and a convincing performance is especially important given the All Blacks were underwhelming at times in Robertson's first year. Nevertheless, a July series against a depleted French team is the ideal opportunity to blood some newcomers, to build depth and to answer some lingering questions surrounding certain positions. Popular Highlanders lock Fabian Holland and Otago No 8 Christian Lio-Willie are the fresh faces in the starting XV, and forwards Ollie Norris and Du'Plessis Kirifi will look to impress Robertson from the bench. "They're all hungry, so that's a great thing. "They're excited, you know. "They're into their homework, they've connected with the group. You have to pull them off the computers a little bit because they're pretty keen to do all the right stuff." The best thing about being on debut is that you get the closest thing to a free pass in terms of your performance. There is not quite the same latitude extended to some relative veterans in various positions. Much interest will focus on how Rieko Ioane performs in his return to wing from centre, and on whether a seasoned Beauden Barrett is starting a long final phase of his All Blacks career as the best option at No 10, and on how Tupou Vaa'i enjoys a run at blindside flank. Significantly — and this appears to have gone almost entirely unnoticed — there will be some acid on props Ethan de Groot and Fletcher Newell to step up in the absence of first-choice bookends Tamaiti Williams and Tyrel Lomax. Not many French teams, after all, lack fire in the front row. Neither Robertson nor the All Blacks need the first chapter of the season to be a difficult scene-setter. They would love a start that hooks us immediately, a gutsy middle with plenty of action, and a triumphant finish before moving on to part two in Wellington.
