All Blacks v France: French name eight debutants to face Scott Robertson's side in Dunedin
First five-eighths Joris Segonds, flanker Alexandre Fischer, lock Tyler Duguid, prop Giorgi Beria and winger Tom Spring will make their debuts
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
4 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Fabian Holland: All Blacks' future and New Zealand Rugby's global pathway
It's not just that he's played like a seasoned veteran, Holland has embraced the All Blacks' ethos with an understanding that is perhaps deeper than his New Zealand-raised peers'. After the previous Saturday's win in Dunedin, he proactively began searching for a broom to literally sweep the sheds and he just seems to get that for the All Blacks to be loved by the people, they have to connect with the people. How readily and aptly he has found his place in New Zealand and the All Blacks is a story almost too ridiculous to comprehend. His journey from gangly teenager growing up in the Dutch village of Alkmaar – famous for its cheese market (but then which Dutch village isn't?) – to playing for the All Blacks is unfathomable. Fabian Holland urges his pack on during his debut test against France, in Dunedin. Photo / Photosport New Zealand's middle classes can barely cope with relocating their 18-year-olds to university in the South Island. The whole business of settling their precious Olivers and Sophies into a fully catered, warm and secure hall of residence is considered so traumatic as to require the whole family to be in attendance – and even then, there are tears and meltdowns. Holland, at just 16, took off on his own to a foreign country – where there was a language barrier – settled himself into school in Christchurch, relocated to attend university in Otago and then got himself on New Zealand's elite rugby pathway. The equivalent would be a Kiwi teen heading to Brazil, finishing their education there in Portuguese and then making the national football team. It's so nuts that of course the small rugby fraternity in the Netherlands is hooked on following Holland's career, and if New Zealand Rugby (NZR) plays its marketing hand smartly, interest in the 22-year-old could extend way beyond the realms of only those already familiar with the sport. There are 18 million people in the Netherlands and NZR has to be thinking about developing Holland as his own brand in his homeland. The content opportunity is vast – there could be a line of personalised merch; get him on the media circuit and all the time have that All Blacks story serving as the backdrop. The impact could be incredible and certainly it seems that having a marketing plan built around an impressive Dutchman is likely to be a more cost-effective, better and ultimately more lucrative way for NZR to win and monetise offshore fans than their current strategy of playing tests in foreign lands. Fabian Holland puts pressure on French halfback Nolann Le Garrec in Dunedin. Photo / Photosport The All Blacks will be back in Chicago later this year to play Ireland again, and it's a sure bet that Soldier Field will be filled with largely the same expat Irish fans it was nine years ago when the two sides first met on US soil. Rugby hasn't grown much in the USA since 2016 and nor, despite NZR's insistence otherwise, have the All Blacks grown their brand profile in that period either – or at least not to the extent that it can be more easily or better monetised. Playing Bledisloe Cup games (2008 and 2010) in Hong Kong didn't do anything to grow the All Blacks' fan presence in Asia either, and one brave decision by a Dutch teenager, that cost NZR nothing, could prove to be a far greater commercial venture than pumping millions into flying all over the world to play games. It's a proven strategy to target the recruitment of foreign players and then market them in their homeland. The arrival of Yao Ming at the Houston Rockets put the NBA on the map in China, just as Manchester United grew their fan base in South Korea after signing Park Ji-sung. NZR is rightly protective of developing homegrown players and maintaining that Kiwi essence within the All Blacks: that understated, boy-next-door homegrown charm that comes from growing up not wearing shoes often and living outside. But NZR has also spent close to $20 million over the past two years making content that very few people watch on its digital platform. It's against the ineffectiveness of that spend to grow the All Blacks brand offshore that the alternative of actively recruiting foreign talent has to be considered. Christian Lio-Willie (left) and Fabian Holland share a moment after victory over France. Photo / Photosport Why not ditch making in-house fluff that reveals nothing to prospective fans, and instead invest in global musters where New Zealand's high-performance teams trawl through the USA, Japan, the rest of Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe looking for future All Blacks? Holland found New Zealand, but what if the All Blacks went looking? Maybe it would unearth the richest pipeline of talent and millions of new fans ready to part with their cash to invest in a globalised All Blacks that feature players from all over the world. It could make the All Blacks both better and richer. Too far-fetched? Possibly, but New Zealand has effectively been doing this for years with players from the Pacific Islands – it's just there isn't much of a commercial return to be had from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand's most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport. For live commentary of this weekend's All Blacks v France test, go to GOLD SPORT or iHeartRadio. You can also find live updates at
Otago Daily Times
5 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Otago's Collier paddles to world title
The Central Otago school of paddling excellence has produced another champion. Nick Collier has become the first New Zealander to win gold at the junior and under-23 canoe slalom world championships. He claimed victory in the under-23 kayak cross in Foix, France. Collier, 21, who hails from Alexandra but has been based in Waikato for the past four years, went one better than his silver medal at the same world championships in Poland two years ago. In Foix, he had to overcome some strong rivals and a parochial French crowd cheering for a one-two from Titouan Castryck and Gino Benini. Castryck, a silver medallist in the K1 at the Paris Olympics and a past junior and under-23 world champion, had already won the kayak slalom final in Foix but had to settle for silver in the kayak cross, in which competitors race down a whitewater course, navigating through a series of obstacles. It is the same event in which Finn Butcher, also from Alexandra, won gold at the Paris Olympics. ''I'm just astounded,'' Collier told the International Canoe Federation after his win. ''It has been a really long, hard year of training. ''I narrowly missed out last year in the semifinal. ''I got on the podium the year before, so it was incredible to make this comeback here in France and get on the top step of the podium this time. ''Having two French guys in the final, you could hear the crowd, it was so loud. You wouldn't really know who they were cheering for, but there was a really strong Kiwi contingent here. And they were all cheering me, willing me down the course. ''It was such a cool feeling.'' Collier made the shift from Central Otago to Hamilton in 2021 after winning a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship to study at Waikato University. He now lives in Cambridge, which is closer to Okere Falls, near Rotorua, for training. Collier's victory came a day after fellow New Zealand paddler Oliver Puchner won silver in the canoe single final. Puchner, from Pukehina in western Bay of Plenty, was competing at his final under-23 world championships and it was by far his best performance. In the under-23 women's C1, Kahlia Cullwick made the semifinals, finishing 25th after also making the semifinals in the K1 event, while junior women's C1 paddler Rosie Rex made the final, finishing 11th in a big advance for her career. — RNZ/APL
Scoop
6 hours ago
- Scoop
Toa Henderson Wins Open Final At French Shears
New Zealand shearing champion Toa Henderson has claimed his first big success in the Northern Hemisphere by winning the Open international final at the French championships. The win came early today (Monday NZT) at Boussac, where he and Wools of New Zealand national teammate and Open final runner-up Jack Fagan also beat France in a test match. Shearing in Europe for the first time, Henderson's win followed a fourth placing in the Scottish black face shearing championships final at the Lochearnhead Shears on June 28, and third in the Great Yorkshire Shears Show Open final on July 9. Fagan won the Boussac Speed Shear, with Henderson claiming second place. With a loss against Scotland and wins over England and France, the pair take a 2-1 record on tour going into a three-test series against Wales next week, with the first at Cothi on Saturday.
