Steve Hansen has dared France to take their traditional flair out of mothballs in Saturday’s quarter-final at the Millennium Stadium, the New Zealand coach dismissing the style of play in the Top 14 as dour and overdosed on physicality.
The All Blacks breezed through their pool while France made the last eight after finishing second in theirs, shades of 2007 when the sides met in the quarter-final at the Millennium Stadium and the form book was not so much ripped up as put through the shredder page by page.
Hansen was a member of the New Zealand management team then and appreciates that while the All Blacks have won their past eight Tests against France, the unpredictable nature of their opponents, coupled with the demands of knockout rugby, make the result anything but a foregone conclusion.
“France have always had great athletes,” Hansen said. “Their game was built around flair in the backs and real physicality up front. I’m not sure it’s the same flair they have now. The Top 14 has become quite a dour competition with a lot of physicality and I know they are trying to recapture the flair which is within them. You can see it when they let loose and we expect them to show it on Saturday.
“There has been a great relationship between the two countries for a long time and apart from the Rainbow Warrior [the Greenpeace ship sunk by French intelligence services in Auckland harbour in 1985], we’ve probably been on the same page most of the time. From a rugby point of view we have similar athletes but there are days with France when you wonder who will turn up. They always do on the big occasion and we have to make sure we do.”
Hansen had picked a starting lineup who have 988 caps: it would have been in four figures but for the hamstring injury that ended the loosehead prop Tony Woodcock’s tournament. There are seven survivors from the side who took the field against France in the 2011 final, compared with three of their opponents, and two from 2007, Dan Carter and Richie McCaw.
“A lot of the guys picked themselves and it was about getting the right 23,” Hansen said. “There are not many bigger challenges than playing France and the job this week for me has been keeping the lid on things. It is about building for the weekend: Sunday to Friday are work days, Saturday is the fun part of the week.”
France have made three changes to the side who lost to Ireland on Sunday, in the back row, at scrum-half and in the centre, with Philippe Saint-André calling on his players to seize the initiative from the kick-off. “If we are to win, we have to play the French way,” the head coach said. “That means getting on to the front foot. If we do not, we will be heading home on Sunday with our heads on the floor.”
Saint-André has chosen Morgan Parra at scrum-half, a player who played at fly-half in the 2011 final. “He is a big competitor with leadership skills who can get the forwards going,” he said. “Against Ireland we defended for 70% of the match and you are never going to win games like that. We need more ball.”
The other changes see Alexandre Dumoulin replace Mathieu Bastareaud at centre to improve distribution while Bernard le Roux’s inclusion ahead of Damien Chouly will give France an extra option in the lineout. “It will be the biggest game of my career,” Le Roux said. “It is not about what happened in 2007. Rugby is an on-the-day sport. We know we are going to have to pay no respect to our bodies and put them on the line for 80 minutes, leaving nothing behind. If we do, anything is possible.”
New Zealand have not needed a cricket scoreboard in the pool stage, unusually for them, and there has been some disquiet in the north and south islands about whether they are undercooked. “I can understand why there is a bit of concern back home, but they are not here,” Hansen said.
“They do not know everything we have been doing and when you do not have control over something, your tendency is to worry, which is a waste of emotion. I am extremely happy with where we are at. We know what is on the line and you do not have to be a rocket scientist to realise it. With respect, when you are playing Namibia you know you are going to win, so we have had to create the edge in training.”
