World Cup - New Zealand trounce France to win Pool A
Hosts New Zealand clinched top spot in Pool A at the rugby World Cup with a game to spare by beating France 37-17 on a celebratory day at Eden Park as captain Richie McCaw became the first All Black to win 100 caps.
Haunted by the memories of premature exits at the hands of the French in the 1999 and 2007 tournaments, New Zealanders had been jittery all week at the prospect of facing the Europeans.
But tries from Adam Thomson, Cory Jane, Sonny Bill Williams and two from fullback Israel Dagg as well as 12 points from the boot of Dan Carter allowed them to bury the ghosts of past World Cup failures for the group stage at least.
The New Zealand pack, led by Richie McCaw in his 100th test with lock Sam Whitelock also oustanding, overpowered the French in the scrum and harried them in the loose to allow their backs the perfect platform to display their skills.
"We had to absorb a fair bit early on and I am proud the boys did that and when we got our opportunities we put points on the board," said McCaw. "In big tests that's what you have got to do, so very happy."
For the first nine minutes, it had looked like Eden Park might possibly experience a shock to rank alongside Ireland's victory over Australia last Saturday as the French took the early initiative and camped in the New Zealand half.
A rampaging charge from centre Ma'a Nonu in the 10th minute turned the tide, however, with number eight Adam Thomson reaping the benefits to cross in the corner for the game's opening try.
Just 11 minutes later and the All Blacks were 19-0 up.
Cory Jane scored the second try when came off his wing to take a neat inside pop pass from scrumhalf Piri Weepu and dash 40 metres through the cover defence to touch down.
Four minutes later, it was the turn of flyhalf Carter to make the line-break and he drew the final defender to allow Dagg to touch down unopposed.
Rattled after the three-try blitz, France did manage to regroup and held their own for the remainder of the half with scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili finally getting some points on the board with a penalty just before the break.
The All Blacks came out firing after halftime, however, and within a minute another Carter line break got them within five metres of the French line before Dagg danced his way through the defence to secure the bonus point with his second try.
Carter, who had converted three of the four tries, added a penalty five minutes later to extend the lead to 29-3 but gifted France their first try when his long mispass was intercepted by centre Maxime Mermoz on 54 minutes.
New Zealand's golden boy made some amends 10 minutes later with a slick drop goal to extend the lead to 32-10 and effectively end any French hopes of a comeback.
France, whose gamble on playing scrumhalf Morgan Parra at flyhalf did not pay off, restored some pride with a try from Parra's replacement Francois Trinh-Duc after a series of five-metre scrums four minutes from time.
But the All Blacks hammered home their superiority immediately with Sonny Bill Williams, on as a replacement for Jane, going over in the corner after a superb sweeping move.
The French, who play Tonga in their final pool match on Oct. 1, are still likely to finish second in the group and reach the last eight.
"We made too many mistakes," said France captain Thierry Dusautoir. "We (conceded) too many tries to the All Blacks. They made a difference in the first half. We came back at the end of the second half.
"We need to work hard and I think this is a good lesson for us."
SCORING TIMELINE:
10’ Thompson try: New Zealand 5-0
17’ Jane try: New Zealand 10-0
17’ Carter conversion: New Zealand 12-0
21’ Dagg try: New Zealand 17-0
22’ Carter conversion: New Zealand 19-0
38’ Yachvilli penalty: 19-3 France
41’ Dagg try: New Zealand 24-3
43’ Carter conversion: New Zealand 26-3
47’ Carter penalty: New Zealand 29-3
54’ Mermoz try: 29-8 France
55’ Yachvilli conversion: 29-10 France
64’ Carter drop goal: New Zealand 32-10
76’ Trinh-Duc try: 32-15 France
76’ Yachvilli conversion: 32-17 France
77’ Williams try: New Zealand 37-17
Comment 23 - 42 of 42
Bruce. Hahahahaha. You've given me a good laugh thanks cobber. Ireland proved Australia are still a team looking for a pack. If you go out and beat them up then you can win. No matter what happened in the Tri-Nations, SA are gonna beat the living daylights out of your pack. Pocock excepted.
Some dirty play by AB's but as usual not noticed by ref: hey! What's new?
Very instructive comments specially the ones that constitute personal attacks between a couple or 3 of the forum members. I havent seen the word Argentina mentioned even once between the possible winners, and by the way the image on the U.A.R emblem is a yaguarete, not a puma.... puma is pronounced 'pooma' and not 'piuma' in its original spanish version.
In a few hours we will see the Pumas' current true form with the Scotland-Argentina match
Big battles are still ahead of all of us in this World Cup, regardless of which team we root for.
those bloody french boys wore white! i dont know, whats the world coming to when another nation steals englands colours!!!!
The french never "tried", Was a joke............, they will reach the final play the old blacks and win it
Better do, got money on them. Allez les bleus....blanc////
Bruce Ireland were lucky to beat Australia? What the hell were you smoking when you were watching that match. The Aussies were seriously out played by the best team and they were lucky they only lost by 9 points, could have been alot more.
aah, Bruce E, the wise man! You repeat what you have read. Have a personality, make your own opinions, get a life. Talk about the sheep following the sheep. Talking about sheep, you fancy them don’t you? BEWARE, GIT ON BOARD!
Bruce... I agree with some of your comments but not about the Irish being lucky... And I know my rugby you can take my word for it! Ireland starved the Australians of any good balls and won a brutal contest. No luck there just hard work. But as I said in my other comment, it wont happen again as the Australians and other teams will be ready for it.
I thought the All Blacks were so accurate and clinical! Three tries in 12 minutes and all good scores... And their defence is very solid too... Very much the favourites and to be honest I dont agree with some comments here that European teams have a chance!!!
Amazingly enought, Ireland beat Australie (and it wont happen again) which means we will have a european team in the final... great! But come on, France England Wales or Ireland wont beat NZ if they go in the final (and they will as they will face a tired autralian or south african team).
I think NZ has choked for many years and I wish they would again, but I just cant see it happening on this occasion.
stuffyou, have you been drinking the toilet duck again, you should know by now that it’s not good for you, how else could we explain such an idiotic statement about northern hemisphere rugby, I suppose your drunk on glory over England’s win today - well I can’t see them getting that many tries against any of the SH teams.
Wales came up against the boks and were found wanting, Scotland just don’t have the talent at present to worry any of the tri nations teams and Ireland were lucky against Australia.
Perhaps if you took the time to read some of the articles in the press by far more knowledgeable rugby pundits than you, you would soon see the error of your ways.
Stuffyou what a sad little man you are, sitting in your bedsit proof reading posts, still if that’s how you get your kicks, fire away. BTW I like the manner by which you pretend to have friends by putting the word lads in your post. rofl
England Rules
Allez les Bleus
Come on Ireland
Wales all the way
Bruce E, for your information, Northern Hemisphere rugby is as good if not better than the south!! World champion will either be England, France, Ireland, Wales..
Write us some more stuff Bruce E! You too might have you hall of fame of idiots!!!!
Hang on boys, we've got ourselves a live one here. Bruce E!! What the hell is quaters???? Is it a religion, or a cake?? P iss off you silly idiot, you too are making a fool of yourself.
THE BEST OF RAYMOND
26.Raymond learn to write and spell you dumb GIT. You are making a fool of yourself. A few examples below :
i = I
i be putting = I'd be putting
wales = Wales
raymond is a git = RAYMONG IS A GIT
22.Raymond do you have an AB's poster in your room, and do you jerk off thinking that they're watching you? Yuck!! Now go and wash your hands you filthy animal.
21.daaah, my name is Raymond, and I reckon I know heaps about rugby, cos my mum says so!! I'm also a GIT cos my dad says so!!!!!
the frogs are that scared of meeting the boks in the quaters that they would have let the under 12 schoolboy all blacks team hammer them.
Joe, how dare you make such an intelligent statement!! Well done sport.
Raymond learn to write and spell you dumb GIT. You are making a fool of yourself. A few examples below :
i = I
i be putting = I'd be putting
wales = Wales
raymond is a git = RAYMONG IS A GIT
All Blacks looked very good today..20 point victory against a French team who didnt look too bad in first 10mins.
perhaps if they scored a few more points to go with their possession their tails wouldnt have dropped so quickly.
That said, the All Blacks were very crisp and sharp. Not many teams would have had a chance today.
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