France tamed by unrelenting All Blacks

Press, 22 June 1987, Page 21

France tamed by unrelenting All Blacks

From

BOB SCHUMACHER,

in Auckland

.France’s rugby emblem, the strutting cockerel, was reduced to ®o more than a tame bantam at Eden Park on Saturday by an All Black team which, from the very start of its World Cup campaign, had decided nothing except victory would suffice.

The All Blacks became the first holders of the William Webb Ellis Cup with their 29-9 victory in the final which brought together the champion teams of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It was a win desperately sought by an All Black side which experiencced rifts in the ranks and a number of unpalatable results last year; it was a win welcomed by the New Zealand players, the public, the press; it was a win, and the French were the first to agree, which nobody could deny. The final was not the greatest advertisement for those only concerned with running rugby. There were times, though, when the ball was moved with speed and skill and those moments were savoured by a sell-out crowd of 46,000, but basically it was a match where physical output by the forwards outweighed the \ fleeting forays of the backs. Neither side expected it to be any different, but the All Blacks achieved a surprising ascendancy in set play, especially the line-outs, where they finished with a 21-9 advantage, and in Michael Jones they had the loose forward who proved that there is no substitute for swiftness to the breakdown. For all its dominance of the first 15 minutes, New Zealand had no tangible reward except for a

dropped goal, expertly taken by Grant Fox, from a free kick after 14 minutes. , After 18 minutes, however, New Zealand had gone out to 9-0 and the reason why was that Jones had the presence of mind and fleetness of foot to pursue a lateral line when an attempted dropped goal by Fox was deflected from the body of the French first fiveeighths, Franck Mesnel. The ball rebounded towards the French line and it bounced as wickedly as a leg-break finding a rut in the cricket pitch as Patrice Lagisquet uncertainly came into field. Poor Lagisquet. The ball flirted with his fingers and by the time he had the spiralling leather under control, Warwick Taylor was on hand to bowl him out of the way and leave the route clear for Jones to stoop and conquer. The All Blacks held that 9-0 lead to half-time and, although there were times when they could have added points had the final pass been directed and delivered at the right time, they had reason to feel fairly contented. France had a productive little period between the twentieth and thirtieth minutes. It attacked both through forwards and backs. Laurent. Rodriguez posed problems off the back of the scrum, Denis Charvet and Philippe Sella ducked and dived away from the first, and sometimes, second tackles. But progress was difficult against a black wave of defence and too often progress became retreat as the ferocity of the New Zealand tackling took the ball carrier metres back from the spot where he had grasped possession. When Alan Whetton sinned four minutes into the second spell and Didier Camberabero was on target with his first attempt at goal, France was within six points and its captain, Daniel Dubroca, confessed afterwards that he believed his team had a |pod chance, especially

as the wind and sun was in France’s favour. About that time, the All Black captain, David Kirk, had momentary thoughts of the taste of flat beer while the claret coursed a warm tract down the throats of the Tricolours.

“We had a flat patch for 15 minutes before half-time, then they got three quick points in the second half. That seemed to galvanise us, however,” said Kirk, who added that he never considered the game won until the All Blacks scored their second and third tries within two minutes.

Starting the last quarter of the match, New Zealand had nipped out to 153 through; two further penalty goals from Fox. An off-side by the inside backs cost France three points after eight minutes and Fox struck again after 16 minutes. The offence was by the French captain, Dubroca, who stupidly kicked his marker, the All Black hooker, Sean Fitzpatrick, near his own line and in front of the Scottish touch judge, Brian Anderson.

Mr Anderson had no hesitation in reporting the offence and Dubroca may well reflect later that he was lucky that he did not become the third player in as many World Cup games to have first use of the hot water of the showers.

Instead of planting a boot into the ribs of a prostrate Fitzpatrick, Dubroca would have been better advised in imploring his men with some chosen words from the French national anthem, La Marseillaise.

“To arms, oh citizens! Form up in serried ranks! March on, march on! And drench our fields with their tainted blood!”

But the only entente drawn up on Eden Park was between the All Blacks. After 21 minuttes of the second half, the World Cup was almost certainly in the possession of the All Blacks. Jones beautifully snared the ball from a deep line-out throw and Kirk, an excellent offensive halfback, darted around the narrow side and fed Fox. Fox, on the run, in-passed to the ever-present Jones and he slipped a pass infield to Kirk who had the dash to shrug off Sella’s tackle. From the kick-off, the All Black forwards grouped and gave controlled possession to Kirk. He ran the blindside, was tempted to kick, but when his rival halfback, Pierre Berbizier, scurred by him, Kirk hared 'through the vacant opening.

He went 50m before committing two French defenders to the tackle and Wayne Shelford was first to the loose ball. He slipped a deft pass to John Kirwan and the strapping Auckland right wing did exactly what most of the packed audience wanted; a leg-pump-ing run of 25m and a diving try in the corner.

That was bon nuit for France and Kirk said later that the All Black forwards noticed a visible lessening of muscle in later scrums. New Zealand might have been grateful for that because the French scrum had shown no lassitude until then.

Fox added two more penalty goals as France committed two more indiscretions; unnecessary attention to Jones after another storming run by the flanker who is cut somewhere in the NathanKirkpatrick mould, and holding in the line-out. But before a responsive New Zealand crowd could salute their rugby heroes, it had to watch appreciatively as France, even in mortal anguish, kept running the ball, even from a penalty which would not have taxed Camberabero too greatly, and it was rewarded with a deserved consolation try. Eric Champ, the vaunted French flanker whose bouts of pique and off-side play left him more of a chump, started the surge. Berbizier and Jean-Pierre Garuet, the potato-selling prop from Lourdes, kept pressing and just when it seemed that Mesnel was going to be propelled backwards by four All Blacks, the ball was smuggled to an unmarked Berbizier only a stride from the line. The control and commitment of the New Zealand pack, the clever linekicking of Fox and the certainty of the tackling all contributed to the All Black’s commendable win. Jones may have been the star player, the rest were not far behind. France suffered through lack of possession from lineouts and in the loose. Its highly rated back row had to defend more than accustomed and, although Blanco, Charvet and Sella, all slithered and slewed through some tackles, they were muzzled for the most part.

It was New Zealand’s day from the outset. “God Defend New Zealand” was sung with deeper feeling and passion than ever before, the haka was performed at its most fearsome and all that France could reply with was a liberated rooster which stood forlornly and forsaken for several seconds before the kickoff.

For New Zealand, Michael Jones, David Kirk and John Kirwan scored tries; Grant Fox kicked one convesion, four penalty goals and a dropped goal.

For France, Pierre Berbizier scored a try which was converted by Didier Camberabero who also kicked a penalty goal. Match statistics: Penalties, New Zealand 10, France 8; lineouts, New Zealand 21, France 9; scrums, New Zealand 20, France 17; rucks and mauls, France 16, New Zealand 15.