All Black team for France

New Zealand:

15. I. Dagg,
14. C.Jane,
13. B.Smith,
12. M.Nonu,
11. Charles Piutau,
10. D.Carter,
9. A.Smith,
8. K.Read,
7. R.McCaw (C),
6. L.Messam,
5. S.Whitelock,
4. B.Retallick,
3. O.Franks,
2. K.Mealamu,
1. T.Woodcock,

Reserves:
Coles, Crockett, Faumuina, Luatua, Cane, Kerr-Barlow, Cruden, Crotty.


This is the most experienced All black side ever with a total of 965 caps.

They play France in Paris, where they have not lost  since 1973.

All Blacks will wear the away white strip.

Jane wasn't going to be picked but Savea has missed half a week of preparation so Jane gets the start and Piutau, who was going to start anyway starts on the left instead of the right.

Cane goes to bench and Luatua covering the lock role. Surprise that Romano isn't being given a bench role to see where he's at like the intention was with Jane because and Crotty and Cruden on the bench means with Smith at 13 the back three are covered but no Barrett may be to see where Crusen is at or Barrett's performance in Japan sees him rotated or dropped.

Lots of experience in that pack and will be interested to see how the scrum goes as our scrum has improved in the second half but has looked average particularly on our feed in the first half.

Not too shabby, eh?

Should be interesting to see whether France can lift themselves for this one.

Fyi the ref will be jaco peyper from SA
French team announced shortly but am not even remotely excited about it as looking at the 23 men I can say it will be the same old same boring team with no mobility in the forwards and no x facto in the backs.

Don't like TKB on the bench.

Luckless the French have one blue jersey that is almost black...If you get what I mean.

Really the only country that actually does blend with the ABs is Scotland.

Nothing more beautiful than seeing Springbok Green and Gold and AB black on a rugby pitch.

too true.. Every one knows where they stand.

Sorry Laurie, I deleted my post. I just think it has more to do with shirt sales than potential colour clash. I doubt it'll have a bearing on the match.

If the ABs will be wearing their white strip, should we call them the All Whites?

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Sorry Laurie, I deleted my post. I just think it has more to do with shirt sales than potential colour clash. I doubt it'll have a bearing on the match.

No worries Luckless it just looked like I was having a conversation with someone that wasnt there..lol

I do that all the time!

There must be a ghost in the machine.  

or a machine in the ghost.

Or a Ghost in the Empire.

Hmmm, it seems the Ghost is everywhere.

doctor_grey wrote:If the ABs will be wearing their white strip, should we call them the All Whites?

Only unbeaten team at the last FWC so with the ABs on their perfect run, the comparison is apt, doc.  

Where does it say that NZ will be in white? Crap I'm off to Paris tomorrow-gotta pack my white ABs shirt now!

looking forward to seeing what Charles Piutau can do against the French, he looks a very exciting player with lots of pace and power, got the skills to go with it aswell, great pass out the tackle against Japan to set up Ben Smith.

I personally think the French will be smashed. Saint-Andre's regime has been a shambles thus far, and that ABs side isn't messing about.

Agreed fES, that team is going to wipe the floor with them. Still, should be some good tries for the neutrals amongst us!

funnyExiledScot wrote:I personally think the French will be smashed. Saint-Andre's regime has been a shambles thus far, and that ABs side isn't messing about.

completely agree. i cannot believe he hasn't at least put Gillian Galan on the bench - he is the 22yr old keeping picamoles as second choice 8 for Toulouse. Won MoM vs Sarries and was epic. huge (bit chubby), young, strong, combative and fearless. St Andre needs to look to the future. Galan will be french 8 at RWC 2015 IMHO so why not give him big game time now?

mind u, the french have a tradition of mismanagement in rugby and football, so they probably dont want to mess with that.

I'm like Biltong in that I abstain from making any predictions about NZ France games. No use. Sometimes the black (or white in this case-remind me why the hell NZ are in white since the shirts don't clash any more?!) shirt is like a red rag to a French bull. Sometimes they've knocked SA over in unexpected fashion but are nowhere near as unpredictable as when they play NZ.

The time when you'd don the reserve kit for an actual reason (ie too close to opposition colours) is long behind us. Nowadays it's purely for the sake of mixing things up, giving the little-known second strip a runout and I suspect, as suggested above, most of all so the unions can line their cash nets just a little thicker.

quinsforever wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:I personally think the French will be smashed. Saint-Andre's regime has been a shambles thus far, and that ABs side isn't messing about.

completely agree. i cannot believe he hasn't at least put Gillian Galan on the bench - he is the 22yr old keeping picamoles as second choice 8 for Toulouse. Won MoM vs Sarries and was epic. huge (bit chubby), young, strong, combative and fearless. St Andre needs to look to the future. Galan will be french 8 at RWC 2015 IMHO so why not give him big game time now?

mind u, the french have a tradition of mismanagement in rugby and football, so they probably dont want to mess with that.

That kid looks like a soft little perfectly round tank, but my god he is a wrecking ball, starting for good reason too! Can he or Picamoles play blind does anyone know  

I'm with you disney. Theres no way that side selected should lose but we've said that before. Theres a huge focus on ending the year with 100% so that might be the difference. Last year it wasnt quite as paramount and I think they thought they might stroll it, but because of the loss and draw it is this time. That small difference could see them home.

butterfingers wrote:

quinsforever wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:I personally think the French will be smashed. Saint-Andre's regime has been a shambles thus far, and that ABs side isn't messing about.

completely agree. i cannot believe he hasn't at least put Gillian Galan on the bench - he is the 22yr old keeping picamoles as second choice 8 for Toulouse. Won MoM vs Sarries and was epic. huge (bit chubby), young, strong, combative and fearless. St Andre needs to look to the future. Galan will be french 8 at RWC 2015 IMHO so why not give him big game time now?

mind u, the french have a tradition of mismanagement in rugby and football, so they probably dont want to mess with that.

That kid looks like a soft little perfectly round tank, but my god he is a wrecking ball, starting for good reason too! Can he or Picamoles play blind does anyone know  

Picamoles has played flanker before with Galan at 8, if I am not mistaken.  I have definitely seen Picamoles wearing the 7 shirt (the french play left-right rather than openside-blindside) for Toulouse.

Picamoles has a very good reputation but was easily outpointed by Read in the series this year. He'll have to step up for this.

The All Blacks are the All Blacks for a reason Knowsit. I'm disappointed anyway. I'm going with an American mate of mine and he won't get to see the famous black jersey. The team yes, but I'm disappointed for him to be honest. Just me.

I expect them to have a real go at Ben Smith's channel. They made inroads in June opposite Conrad Smith and since Ben's just finding his feet that I think is a big opportunity for France. Dusautoir will have a big one again but unless one of the other two loosies steps up and makes big yards with the ball I see advantage NZ. Their front row is missing Domingo and this may work in NZ's favour. Glad Franks is back but he needs a huge game scrum wise. I don't rate Faaumuina at scrum time but he's been solid in all other facets and if Franks doesn't scrum well he may be usurped.

Taylorman wrote:Picamoles has a very good reputation but was easily outpointed by Read in the series this year. He'll have to step up for this.

I'm fairly sure there were a few games last year where Picamoles outplayed Reads also.  I distinctly remember him brushing Read aside in one of his trademark runs.  I do agree though that Read is the more consistent player.

I like Picamoles and he is a huge loss. He is a lot more effective than Read at breaking the gain line with ball in hand. However I'd take Read for everything else-I dare say he'd have scooped the pass up that Picamoles dropped with the line at his mercy in the first test in June.

yes this clash is the one Im looking forward most to though Ive a feeling it could be one sided. This AB side has a little more to prove this year- completing the year on a high, so an exciting three matches coming up.

disneychilly wrote:I like Picamoles and he is a huge loss. He is a lot more effective than Read at breaking the gain line with ball in hand. However I'd take Read for everything else-I dare say he'd have scooped the pass up that Picamoles dropped with the line at his mercy in the first test in June.

I agree, Read is maybe slightly less effective at breaking the gain line (but he has more pace and skill, and is still a very powerful runner) but honestly he is such a well rounded player that he is without doubt the reigning number 8.

He can do it all, but he isn't simply a jack of all trades master of none.  He just oozes class in every aspect of his game.

He will go down as one of the all time greats, and I can see him leading the All Blacks for the next world cup.  Even if McCaw is still playing.

That French side looks good the AllBlacks problem is they have a rookie wing/centre and a wing with no game time.Plus no specialist lock seems either Romano isn`t ready to go or
is now in the no longer needed class.
Starting a player without any gametime against England is decidedly iffy and Perenara tho
a better bet than Kerr-Barlow has never started.
Just what has the number of caps to do wity anything 420 of those are just 4 players 3 starting with no game time at all.Ok fully fit there great and France in Europe are a gravestone for many a NZ touring side.
Don`t expect a walk in the park in won`t be Hansen knows it too.

Hansen knows that it might be a walk in the park or it might not.

emack2 wrote:That French side looks good the AllBlacks problem is they have a rookie wing/centre and a wing with no game time.Plus no specialist lock seems either Romano isn`t ready to go or
is now in the no longer needed class.
Starting a player without any gametime against England is decidedly iffy and Perenara tho
a better bet than Kerr-Barlow has never started.
Just what has the number of caps to do wity anything 420 of those are just 4 players 3 starting with no game time at all.Ok fully fit there great and France in Europe are a gravestone for many a NZ touring side.
Don`t expect a walk in the park in won`t be Hansen knows it too.

Assume youre talking the bench with the lock thing Alan.
jane is there because Savea is injured. Piatau has been a solid performer all year and is getting stronger with each match, and has shown versatility. No reason he'll suddenly fail.

Ben Smith might be the main real 'risk' but as an IRB player of the year nomination for his wing displays other countries may just have worse dilemmas than that.

Frankly no reason this side shouldnt win, and well. Sure theres the France thing but you can't ride that every match. France have not won a match this year and only two (Arg and Scotland) last year so if the ABs lose this theyll only have themselves to blame. So this is what I expect:

'A walk in the park'.