All Blacks hang on grimly for fine win

Press, 30 October 1981, Page 28

All Blacks hang on grimly for fine win

NZPA staff correspondent Strasbourg The All Blacks can now look forward to the remaining seven matches of their tour of France, optimistic that they can match anything the French throw at them. That was the main conclusion that could be drawn from their fighting 15-13 win over a very strong French selection under floodlights at Strasbourg yesterday. The All Black coach, Mr Peter Burke, probably put it in a nutshell when he said he thought the two internationals against France would not be much harder than the Strasbourg game.

On a soft ground at the Stade de la Meinau, the New Zealanders soaked up the expected early pressure from the French, scored the points that really mattered and then hung on grimly for the win. They lowered the colours of the virtual French second fifteen in a fine display of torrid-paced, open rugby which deserved a far bigger audience than the 8000 who watched the game in this largely non-rugby playing area. If the aim of the French was to test the All Blacks in their first game, then the visitors clearly scored a pass

mark and can now look to confidently develop and improve their game. The match was a particular triumph for Waikato’s two new All Blacks — the centre, Arthur Stone, and the prop, Paul Koteka. As the fast and skilled French backs ran the ball at the All Blacks from every direction in the first 20 minutes, Stone's strong tackling was the rock on which many attacks foundered. And then in the fortysecond minute, the 20-year-old Melville centre showed his class on attack when he combined with Steve Pokere to carve the French mid-

field to pieces and put the Southland second-five over near the posts. Koteka was part of a forward pack which came out on terms with the French in the line-outs‘*and scrums, but really distinguished itself in driving and mauling and in getting back to make crucial .tackles in defence. They only actually got on top of the French in the first 20 minutes of the second half, but this supremacy was marked solely by an Allan Hewson penalty which took the All Blacks to a 15-9 lead. The French, inspired by their outstanding captain and flanker, Roland Petrissans,

then broke the All Black grip and in the last quarter launched a series of assaults on the New Zealand line. That their only reward was a disputed try to the wing, Laurent Pardo, in injury time was a tribute to the All Black defence.

There were many heroes — Gary Whetton, who finished the game with a sprained thumb, made one important tackle, while the loose trio of Frank Shelford, Geoff Old, and Mark Shaw, covered vast tracts of ground.

In the backs, the first fiveeighths, Brian McKechnie, was a fine steadying influ-

ence, after making the first All Black try for Shelford by hitting the base of the goalpost with a long kick. And at ftilLback, Hewson had a golden day capped by his superb side-line penalty. He also kicked the first two All Black conversions of the

tour. The French players, fighting for a place in the test side against . New Zealand, also had a number of outstanding performers and if France has a better left wing than Pardo or a better halfback than Pierre Berbizier,

they must be superlative. Marc Sellafranque was also an extremely adventur-

ous and elusive full-back although he appeared less sound on defence. His dodging run up the centre, and good work down the wing by Pardo, set up Berbizier’s try for the French team in the first half.

Berbizier gave his All Black, opposite a tough time and-there was more than a suspicion that > the referee, Francis Palmade, could have penalised him more than once for off-side play.

The French referee was, however, very strict on the new tackle law which the All

Blacks, in the heat of a very fast moving game, breached on many occasions.

Another matter the All Blacks may need to work on is their concentration on the field.

The captain, Andy Dalton, said his players had been caught out more than once by the French taking quick tap penalties, one of which led to Pardo’s try.

A conversion by Bernard Vivies and a draw may have been a fairer way to end the game but the French first five-eighths made a terrible mess of the vital kick.