[November Tests 2016 EOYT] France vs. New Zealand (26/11/2016)

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Good defence by NZ to prevent a try there. Continued signs of gradual improvement by France in the last 6 months. I think they can keep a loss here to under 20 points.

 

[corny]

Good defence by NZ to prevent a try there. Continued signs of gradual improvement by France in the last 6 months. I think they can keep a loss here to under 20 points.

Don't know about that. They're the better side here. If they stop forcing the final pass they can win this by 20!

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

AB not releasing after the tackle and getting turnovers that way.

France won that last penalty when the jackler clearly had his hands on the ground.

It goes both ways.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Nice interception try from Beauden. Not gonna catch him after that.

Lovely offloading from ABs and try from Faumunia - 24-9.

 

[corny]

NZ 3 chances - 3 tries. France 52 chances - 0 tries.

Smash and grab by NZ but they're brilliant at it.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Finally, France breach the AB try line. Picamoles.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Picamoles is an awesome player.
One of the very finest no.8's in the world.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Wow Read choosing another Scrum. Is he nuts, with 3 points pretty much in easy kickable distance?

Silly decision in the end, as France win a penalty.

But ABs still hold out for the win by 5. Better than the 49 points from France's point of view from a year ago.

 

[Makos]

Well that felt like a bridge too far and we've played like it.

Not sure where to start?

I guess I'll start by asking why we kicked it so much? I guess it lead to our first try, but after that we only successfully made a kick once and continued the trend even when Aaron Smith came on (and had a howler). But we play with virtually no ball now and what little pill we did have, we tried these little kicks in behind, I guess Hansen watched a few replays and thought it was a good idea..

Ok, so...
Are teams allowed to hold on to the ball and not release it for as long as they want vs the All Blacks? Is that our handicap?

Ireland did it all last week and once again France all this week. The camera even zoomed up on it and had it displayed on the big screen in Paris and still no call from Barnes? I'm not going to single him out like most do, because Peyper didn't do any better last week.. but come on??

I was impressed with France with ball in hand and pleased with our defensive efforts again

I really don't want to be too hard on the guys, it's a very long season for them, they have all been playing since Feb and it's hard yards with the colossal amount of traveling they do. I'm repeating myself, but the AB/SR's honestly travel more than any other sports team in history. It's a bit silly really. I think some of the guys looked dead tonight and couldn't concentrate and put their best performances in.

I often expect us to play 'bad' in the final game now, the lads are way too ragged with the extended SR season and RC + the match at Soldier Field.. it really is a lot of rugby and I can only see them further expanding just so we can make ends meet to pay our lads.

Glad everyone got through relatively unscathed and they all deserve a good summer holiday and a beer.

 

[barthelemy]

France has played well but naively. ABs played a smart and efficient game.

I do feel that there is something new with this french team and it is enjoyable, lets see with the 6 nations.

I'm impressed with Serin, the Chistera for Picamoles was a great display.

 

[The Jones Boy]

The AB's are knackered.
That was a potential banana skin avoided.
Home to rest up and have a barby at the beach.
Great year for the new boys, well done lads, enjoy your break, you deserve it.

 

[KeyboardWorrier]

Far out those French were fast and strong. Could easily have been another Ireland V AB USA result.

 

[The Jones Boy]

As I said, this was another potential banana skin.
I am not convinced that the French were that fast or strong. They were fresh.
I am convinced that the AB's were comparatively slow and weak.
We are not watching an All Black team of two or three months ago.
These guys in black have played an awful lot of top level rugby this year and they are going to the well too many times.
Hansen emptied his bench early to get fresh legs on the park and it only worked for so long before the French came roaring back.
Banana skin avoided for another year, move on to a holiday.

 

[dragos03]

A very exciting match and I haven't seen France play so well for many years. I think they were clearly the better team and should have won but were really unlucky in several key moments of the match.

Looks like Noves is finally finding the old French flair, which seemed to have been lost forever.

The ABs looked tired but very clinical and opportunistic as usual.

 

[Makos]

Has Hansen said anything on why we kicked it so much?

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

I'd love to know how many rucks ALB hit... Seemed to be getting stuck into every second one.

 

[Alex Anghel]

A bit disappointed to see the ABs being so clearly dominated in 3 out of 4 of these EOTY tests, but I guess that ultimately it all down to a long and grueling season.

Barrett was again outstanding and it seems that he may well live up to his illustrious predecessors Andrew Mehrtens (my favorite fly half of all time) and Dan Carter. He ran the backline nicely and his pass to Savea for the first try was fab.

Naholo was again very quiet and Savea doesn't seem to have that spark that propelled him into the squad a couple of years ago. I guess Dagg at 14 is a better option now, but I can't help but thinking of Dougie Howlett's days .

I also missed a powerful midfield pairing, Nonu's devastating charges and capacity to offload at the right time are surely missed. Will be interesting to see where Sonny Bill Williams will fit into the picture next year.

All in all, I feel like Hansen should have been experimenting more on this tour, but I am confident that he will lead again the ABs to the WE trophy in 3 years time .

 

[gaston le gaff]

Good to see a much improved French team but their mistakes individual, or collective cost them the game, the differences between the 2 teams were very small but the shoulder supporter on both sides everytime the AB's made a break was always there. The French made the breaks but got themselves isolated and lost the ball often, wheras the AB's did not. Line outs lost another problem no ball no win. Lopez cost France 14pts, his efforts near the line no hand off which could have resulted in a try, that mini second, where the tackler has to make a second attempt, if there was a hand off he would have got him the extra yard or soo and maybe over the line. The pass he gave for BB who was only going for the intercept as the defensive was in place, another mistake at this level these are elementary and cannot be made. France have not got a class 10, which is what they need to domminate. Another reason playing 3x 8's in the backrow where we were short of a a player in the tackle able to steal, and gain possession, this the AB'S did on numerous occaisons. All in all i think France could now be seeing light at the end of the tunnel, they are a long way from perfect but its a start in the right direction. If they had taken their chances and scored the result could have been different but "IF" is a very big word. The AB's made few errors when under pressure and just one reason why they are so difficult to beat even when under immense pressure, so Bravo one loss in Chicago is not going to ruin their reputation.
France can move onto the 6 Nations with a little more confidence but they will still have some tough matches v England and Ireland. Lets hope the PSA era is finally buried and Noves can bring France back to a level of decency.

 

[smartcooky]

I think people are reading too much into the closeness of the AB results this EOYT. It has been a very long, very tough season. Just to recap

Won the Wales series 3-0
Won the Rugby Championship with a perfect 6 and 0 record and a 4 try bonus point in every match for a maximum possible 30 log points
14 wins 1 loss
Points for - against 562 - 221
Tries for - against 80 - 18
Average score 40-16 (5.7 tries per match)

I don't think any other team in the world could have gone through a year after the retirement of some of their best players to play the game, and the loss of over 800 test caps of experience, and then lose only one match in 14.

 

[jomjom]

I threw this on after needing more rugby fix after Ire v Aus, it was a surprisingly good game. The ABs looked knackered at times but how could they not be. France looked very promising at times, a bit disastrous at others (namely the set piece). Still they look dangerous with ball in hand, and I think with just a little bit less off loading and more territory consolidation they could score more tries. The results haven't spoken yet but the ambition and talent is definitely there. I think in 2 years time we will see a very potent resurgent France.

Based on the AIs I would probably put France at 3rd for the 6N, though that would depend on which Scotland turns up.