Rugby World Cup: France-All Blacks 27-13

France defeated the All Blacks 27-13 in Paris in the match that opened the 2023 Rugby World Cup. For Fabien Galthie’s team it is a fundamental victory, which launches them towards the victory of Pool A (in which there is Italy), while for the New Zealanders of coach Ian Foster it was a historic defeat, the first in fact suffered in the groups in the history of the world championship. France will return to the field on Thursday 14th to challenge Uruguay in Lille, while the following day New Zealand will challenge Namibia in Toulouse.

Pressure

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92 seconds were enough for the All Blacks to score their first try of the tournament. It all starts from a sensational hole in the middle of the pitch by Rieko Ioane who breaks through without opposition until inside the 22, then the French stop the action irregularly, Aaron Smith beats it quickly and with all the blues concentrated on the left defensive area to block, the the ball comes out to Beauden Barrett who with a perfect cross kick feeds Mark Telea to the opposite flag, who just has to collect and smash. Richie Mounga misses the transformation. On the other hand, however, two free kicks from Thomas Ramos between the 5th and 20th minutes earned the French overtaking. In the 25th minute the All Blacks besiege the French goal line, an offside comes right in front of the posts and the choice goes for the free kick, which Mounga obviously puts in for 8-6. It’s not a spectacular match: the French clearly feel the pressure of the debut and make otherwise inexplicable gratuitous errors, the New Zealanders don’t seem to fully trust their game. And then in fact when they trust, they make mistakes: they ask for a mid-field scrum, but Uini Atonio forces Ethan de Groot (the second for the left prop) into a foul and Ramos hits the posts from mid-field to make it 9-8. With the New Zealand attack advancing dangerously deep into the 22, de Groot again commits a Fantozzian forward, which allows the French to overturn the field with a good counterattack, which results in a ground infringement by Telea which sends Ramos back to the nearby pitch of the out on the right: the ball however ends up just wide of the posts. Mounga may well be considered the player with the highest performance in Super Rugby, but the fact that the number 10 shirt of the All Blacks can have better and more worthy interpreters than in the past is demonstrated without fear of contradiction in the 38th minute, when he receives a very comfortable in his 22 free kick by Ramos, but, despite realizing the clear anxiety of his opponents and with at least 30 meters free in front of him to run and invent, instead of playing, he returns the ball to touch. Until the break, the score does not change anymore.

Comeback

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The second half opens with an excellent French attack, the New Zealanders are forced to retreat close to the goal line, but a lateral clearing by Francois Cros ruins everything. And the bill is very high. The All Blacks can counterattack, it is a kick beyond the first line of defense by Ardie Savea that causes the first break, then with the advancing attack it is Mounga who fishes Telea wide on the left, who finds practically no opposition to trot towards the goal. Mounga misses the transformation – this is truly a first for such a reliable footballer. However, the New Zealand opener redeems himself in the 53rd minute, when with a miraculous tackle he manages to close on Damian Penaud, who was launched towards the flag. But the overtaking goal came in the 55th minute, when the Blues forced the New Zealanders to move back and leave space, which Matthieu Jalibert exploited by inventing a wonderful pass, after having attracted 3 men on himself, to free Penaud’s dive into the goal. Ramos converts and France goes +3. Will Jordan misjudges a high ball, hits a Frenchman in the air, collects the inevitable yellow card and concedes the free kick. But Ramos himself demonstrates that the tension is truly enormous in the 60th minute, when he sends out a kick (for goodness sake, not very easy) that he would normally put in blindfolded. France exploits their numerical superiority by trying to explore the spaces, they also play much better, but they fail to do any damage: Antoine Dupont also makes a sensational mistake, kicking a ball directly into touch with which he instead wanted to gain ground. The All Blacks are in trouble and in the 66th minute Ramos scores an easy shot for +6. Another “aerial” foul by Jordan costs the +9 signed by Ramos: with 7 minutes left the game is over. Definitely closed, given that the All Blacks seem to be back to what they were two years ago, uncertain, without a logical and coherent thread to guide them, but above all not very courageous. In the 78th minute comes the goal that seals the French triumph: Beauden Barrett tries an individual play against all logic, the result of desperation, in the ruck the oval ends up on the side of the blues, Maxime Lucu (replaced Dupoint) kicks high towards the area of a goal, Mounga looks dazed in the air while Melvin Jaminet (who replaced Ramos) pounces on the oval in flight, who picks it up and rolls into the goal (then not converted). It couldn’t have started better than this for the hosts.