All Blacks in clean sweep over France

Press, 23 November 1981, Page 38

All Blacks in clean sweep over France

NZPA staff correspondent . Paris

A well-motivated All Black side turned on a fine display of pressure rugby to defeat France, 18-6, in the second test, played in Paris on Saturday. Although there might be regrets that the New Zealanders failed to fashion a try of their own making, there was no doubting the efficiency with which they seized upon the French errors to make a clean sweep of the two-test series.

The All Black forwards, as in the Toulose test, were the platform on which the New Zealand victory was built, but in the dying minutes, when victory was certain, it was encouraging to see the backline finally moving with some style. The win was, in fact, very much a 15-man effort, with pressure being applied on the French from all quarters as they sought desperately to run the ball from virtually any position. That pressure paid its highest dividend in the second half, when Stu Wilson swooped on a ball bobbling about among the French backs and cantered behind the posts for the try which cemented victory. On an overcast day but on a firm ground, the determination of the All Blacks was evident from the start.

The coach, Peter Burke, revealed after the game that before going out in front of the 30,000 crowd at the Parc des Princes, the team had sat in the hotel team room in absolute silence for 20 minutes.

“They were really worked up when they reached the ground,” he said. By tapping and running their first penalty, the French showed clearly what their approach would be, and one of their early drives saw Bernie Fraser knocked out in a collision with Philippe Dintrans.

The Wellington winger, who suffered slight concussion but recovered quickly, was replaced by Jamie Salmon, with Wilson moving from centre to the right wing. In spite of this setback, the All Blacks had the start they wanted when, in the eighth minute, the full-back, Allan Hewson, gave the French a repeat of his Toulose performance when he kicked a penalty from 48 metres. The French received some reward from scrummaging in the early minutes before the new cap, Paul Koteka, had fully settled in at prop and came very close to scoring after 11 minutes. Good passing by the backs put the wing, Michel Fabre, in the clear but the All Black captain, Graham Mourie. was there to hold up the Frenchman long enough for the danger to be cleared. The French also gained from several early line kicks by the first five-eighth, Doug Rollerson, which failed to find their mark, but the All Blacks’ superiority in the line-outs, which were eventually won 21-15, kept the New Zealanders on top.

From the 20th minute, they put their act together

and pressed the French line for a quarter of an hour. A typical short-side burst by the half-back, Dave Loveridge — again in superb form — saw Wilson go close, and the French prop, Michel Cremaschi, was forced to leave the field at a crucial time. With France’s scrum reduced to seven men and the replacement, Daniel Dubroca, pacing the toucline but unable to come on, it was no surprise to see the All Blacks force a try from the resulting five-metre scrum. The manner in which the six points came — through a penalty try — was startling, but in the circumstances there was little cause for controversy over its award by the Irish referee, Mr John West.

As the ball shot loose behind the back-pedalling French scrum, the flanker, Mark Shaw, was within a couple of feet of pouncing on it unopposed when he was pulled back by the French full-back, Serge Gabernet.

Mr West said later that in his view, Shaw would undoubtedly have scored, and he therefore gave the try under the posts, for Hewson to convert.

The French got back three points in the 34th minute when Guy Laporte, who had failed badly with two other attempts, was successful after the All Black front row had been penalised. With the flanker, Jean Luc Joinel, dominant at the back of the line-out, the French continued their fight-back at the start of the second half, and were unlucky not to score when Loveridge and Hewson got mixed up over a Serge Blanco kick-through. Only a spectacular dive to force the ball by the wing, Fred Woodman — who had a particularly fine game both on attack and defence — saved the situation.

Hewson put the All Blacks ahead, 12-3, in the 51st minute when the lock, Daniel Revallier, was penalised for killing the ball and the New

Zealanders had weathered the best the French could throw at them. Blanco reduced the deficit to six points in the 55th minute with a 46-metre penalty, but the All Blacks were back in control, with Woodman, Salmon, and Stone starting to discover that the French defences were not such a difficult proposition. The New Zealand forward dominance increasingly forced the French to run the ball and it was not a great surprise when in the 62nd minute Wilson sauntered to the line after his interception near the French 22-metre line from a tangle between Blanco and Gabernet After the match, Mourie

compared the win with that achieved by the 1979 All Blacks over England. That team also experienced backline problems and suffered a tour defeat, but found the spirit to win the most vital match.

Mr Burke described the All Black forwards as “tremendous.” The backs had given a “competent” display. “We made a few mistakes but all the individuals played well and placed pressure on the French,” he said. For New Zealand: S i Wilson, try, penalty try. A. Hewson, two conversions, two penalties. For France: G. Laporte, penalty, S. Blanco, penalty.