Hosts France make major statement with victory over All Blacks

ROARING SUCCESS: Damian Penaud of France celebrates. Pic: Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

France 29 New Zealand 13

France, three times runners-up, needed a statement win to kickstart their bid for a first-ever World Cup title and what better way to do it than come from behind on a glorious night at Stade de France and inflict a first-ever pool defeat on the All Blacks.

For long periods it looked like New Zealand, showing few signs of a hangover from their record loss to the Springboks in London, would do what they have always done and found a way to win tight games.

But this time it was France who seized the moment and did more than enough to get their campaign up and running, even if they will be the first to appreciate they will need to improve.

Those watching down in Bordeaux in the Irish camp will appreciate the heavyweight nature of this clash on opening night but privately they will realise Ireland have nothing to fear from either of these which they are destined to meet in the quarter-finals. There are holes to exploit in both of them. Neither are invincible.

There will be a lot of rugby and twists and turns along the way but now the All Blacks find themselves in unfamiliar territory and have no wriggle room left in the pool. Strange times but they will deal with it.

The All Blacks lost their skipper Sam Cane to an injury in the warm-up but it didn’t faze them and as they have done on each of the three previous occasions when they were involved on the opening night, they again got the first try of the night to silence the home fans in less than two minutes.

It came from a break down the middle from Rieko Ioane and with a penalty advantage in the right corner, Beauden Barrett switched play with a perfectly measured crosskick for Mark Telea to score and unconverted try in the left corner.

A penalty from 25 metres on the left by Tomas Ramos reduced the margin after five minutes, but with both sides guilty of some basic errors, chances were scarce.

France lost hooker Julien Marchand to injury after 13 minutes but hit the front for the first time when Ramos converted a penalty they won in a scrum 38 metres, but the All Blacks led 8-6 at the first water break when they opted for Richie Mo’unga to tap over a penalty after desperate French defending kept them out.

France struck a big blow on the restart. They conceded a penalty in midfield but when the All Blacks opted for a scrum, they got the squeeze on and won one themselves which Ramos duly dispatched from the halfway line.

That left them 9-8 in front at the break but it could have been more but Ramos missed a difficult kick from the right after it took some retreating defence from Beauden Barrett to stop Antoine Dupont breaking to score after he got the crowd going when he chased a chip from Damian Penaud.

France piled on the pressure after the restart but struggled to find a way through and it was New Zealand, winning a penalty inside their 22, countered from deep for Telea to again silence the crowd when he was put over in the left corner, with Mo’unga again unable to convert from the left.

The French response was good, even if their attack continued to be stunted but the opportunities started to arrive when they went wide with Damian Penaud denied a try in the right corner by a superb tackle from Mo’unga after 51 minutes.

But the French winger was not to be denied and he got their opening try of the tournament six minutes later when Mathieu Jalibert again provided the final pass and Ramos duly obliged with the difficult conversion to lead 16-13.

A yellow card to winger Will Jordan going into the final corner for a high tackle on Ramos presented France with a glorious chance to kill off the game but they only managed three points with the extra man, another penalty from Ramos, this time in front of the posts to take a six points lead into the final ten minutes.

The tension was palpable in the hot Paris night as the clock hit 11pm and the release when Ramos extended the lead with a superb penalty from 45 metres on the left wing was unreal, with seven minutes left on the clock.

They finished in style and the gods smiled on them when a chip bounced kindly for Melvyn Jaminet to score in the corner before the Toulouse man slotted the conversion from the right.

France are up and running, with plenty of room for improvement.

Scorers: 

France: Tries: D Penaud, M Jaminet. Pens: T Ramos (5). Cons: Ramos, Jaminet.

New Zealand: Tries: M Telea (2). Pen: R Mo’unga.

France: T Ramos (M Jaminet 76); D Penaud, G Fickou, Y Moefana (A Vincent 60), G Villiere; M Jalibert, A Dupont (M Lucu 76); R Wardi (JB Gros 52), J Marchand (P Mauvaka 13), U Atonio (D Aldegheri 52); C Woki (R Taofifenua 48), T Flament; F Cros (P Boudehent 68), C Olivion, G Alldritt.

New Zealand: B Barrett; W Jordan, R Ioane, A Lienert-Brown (D Havili 68), M Telea (L Fainga'anuku 76); R Mo’unga, A Smith (F Christie 68); E de Groot (O Tuungafasi 52), C Taylor, N Laulala (F Newll 52); S Whitelock (B Retallick 71), S Barrett; D Papali’i, T Vaa'I (L Jacobsen 62), A Savea.

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)