Rugby World Cup Blog | Jonah Lomu | 2007

Au revoir Les Blacks and Les Bleus

Sun Oct 14 02:01PM

This week was a busy one for me, following the All Blacks loss I was inundated with media requests with everybody wanting to know why the All Blacks lost.  For me it was simple the French beat us, they out passioned us and out muscled us.  The All Blacks lost composure and were unable to function under the pressure. 

I headed out of France on Tuesday to London to attend the Rugby Hall of Fame dinner where I was inducted into the Hall of Fame to join some of the absolute greats of the game, Gareth Edwards, Willie-John McBride, Philippe Sella and Jean-Pierre Rieves.  We had a great night and it was another opportunity to meet up with some familiar faces like Jason Leonard and Gavin Hastings and I feel very honoured to have received this acknowledgement.Wednesday and Thursday I was in Amsterdam presenting at the adidas Global Marketing Meeting before flying on to adidas' head office in Germany where I showed some New Zealand media around, met with the boot designers and spent time with various parts of the adidas business. 

It was a great week but a full on one and it was great to return back to Paris Friday night ready for some more great rugby.After the upsets last weekend this weekend was always going to be a huge one.  I arrived early at Stade de France last night to do some work with Stan Smith, one of the world's greatest tennis legends, there's a picture of the two of us attached.  I spoke to two groups of people he was hosting prior to the kick off. They were a mixture of French and English fans and both sides felt they had a real change to come out with the win.There were a huge number of French supporters but as I looked round the stadium there were pockets of Australians and All Black supporters mixed in with the French and English. 

The noise of the crowd in the first moments of the game was unbelievable and the French supporters did not stop singing and cheering their infamous Allez les Bleu until the outcome became obvious with five minutes to go. This was something I hadn't seen with French supporters before, vocally supporting their team throughout an entire game even when they were up against it.  The England Swing Sweet Chariot was drowned out by the French national anthem every time they tried to get it going and this went on for the majority of the match. It was only in the last ten minutes that it filtered through to my ears as the English fans got on their feet to cheer their team home to a win.

The match started with great intensity, both sides were fired up to do the business on the field and to win that elusive place in the final.  It started with a bang the English putting the first points on the board, Josh Lewsey crossing the white line in the second minute, it promised to be a cliff hanger and one where we were going to spend all of our time on the edge of our seats.This game was always destined to be a great forward battle with England having the slight edge over the French.  Every inch that was given by either side was taken.  The French played a different game to last weekend's; they had a different game plan, played a more expansive game which is what they had to do to shift the England forward pack.  I thought with the French only 5-0 down they would lift their game and the momentum and this was true to form with Beauxis slotting two kicks and taking the French into a 6-5 lead which stayed on the board until after half-time.

Johnny Wilkinson missed several kicks in the first half, points that were crucial and it was disappointing to see him not find his form.  Johnny missed another drop goal just before the 60th minute and the game was hanging on a knife edge.  He looked like he didn't have his eye on the target but they were lucky when the kick rebounded off the post into the hands of the dynamic Jason Robinson whose sure try was foiled by Chabal. 

It wasn't until the 46th minute that Johnny slotted his first kick and put the English 8-6 in front.The battle between the teams continued, the French spending large amounts of time in the English half but they were never able to capitalize on the opportunity and put the much needed points on the board.  Failing to cross the white line they went for the drop goal option but were never able to set up properly.  A penalty came for them in the 43rd minute after the French had piled on the pressure and came out with the three points. Setting the score at 9-8 where it sat for the next 25 minutes. The French were then hard on the defence and Jason Robinson with the ball in hand was always a recipe for exciting play.  A high tackle by one of the French players allowed Johnny another opportunity to step up to the plate and this time he was true to form and put the three points on the board to take England into the lead and take the wind out of the sails of the French.  This was the decisive turning point in the game. 

At this level of rugby winning and losing can be decided on the smallest of errors which can be very costly to the teams.  This time Johnny didn?t look like he'd missed and to watch it sail between the post and to see the flags go up by the touch judges you could feel the relief and the joy in the English supporters around us and the hearts of the French sinking deep with the sense of failure that was looming.The substitutes from both sides came after the 50th minute but for me none of them had a great impact on the game they only continued with the momentum.  However Joe Worsley was one that stood out for me as he got through a good work load and added value to his English forwards pack with some great defensive work.

The French played some great running rugby spinning the ball wide but the English defence was solid throughout the game. They were troubled a few times by the French attacking backs but it was pretty much always covered and they didn't allow the French over their try line although the opportunities were there for them.The last moments of the game France had their last throw of the dice moving the ball wide towards the right wing but one of the passes went astray which forced Christophe Dominici to jump up into the air to try and take the ball.  He took his eye off the ball at the last minute watching the wall of white jerseys coming towards him.  With this knock on the game was set and the English took the ball in slowed it downed and created the space for Johnny to kick the final drop goal giving England the win 14-9. 

The England supporters went crazy and the French slumped to their knees on the field devastated in the realization their World Cup was over.England congratulations it was a thoroughly deserved win and you have the chance to make history in being the very first World Cup winner to go back to back.  To the French I'm so sorry to see you leave this World Cup and the to the French supporters you have done a magnificent job supporting your team and you should be proud.  Jonah

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