International: 'Les Bleus' leave All Blacks red-faced after stunning win in Dunedin

13 June 2009

New Zealand 22 (11) France 27 (17)

France pulled off a stunning victory against the All Blacks in Dunedin, outscoring their hosts by three tries to two as they deservedly triumphed 27-22.

Much had been made in the build up to this Test of the French fielding an understrength side - due to injuries and the late arrival of players involved in the Top 14 final - but it was 'Les Bleus' who left the All Blacks red faced after a coruscating start condemned their hosts to chasing shadows.

Marc Lièvremont's side raced into a hardly believable 17-3 lead in the opening half hour, with fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc and hooker William Servat both going over for tries.

Debutant Julien Dupuy chipped in with both conversions and a penalty to pile up the points, leaving Graham Henry's team in shock at the ferocity of their opponents' play.

And all this on a ground New Zealand considered an All Black fortress, where they had only ever lost four times previously.

Kiwi No 8 Liam Messam managed to grab a try back for the home side before the interval, and with fly-half Stephen Donald - playing instead of the injured Dan Carter - landing two penalties it was left 17-11 to France at half-time.

Donald added two further penalties after the break to tie the scores (at 17-17), but Stade Toulousain full-back Maxime Médard then ran in an intercept try to settle the win, with Dupuy again on hand to add the extras.

A late try from Ma'a Nonu closed the gap, but it was academic in terms of the result - which was only France's fourth win on New Zealand soil.

Captain Thierry Dusautoir was, not surprisingly, ecstatic with both the result and the performance as France completed a second successive victory over Henry's team - the last was their quarter-final win in Cardiff at the 2007 World Cup.

"It was very tough," he admitted afterwards. "We were very nervous before the match but we gave our all and won. We are very proud. Our defence was good but we also scored three tries, which is very important against the All Blacks. We are going to enjoy this victory and prepare again for next week," added Dusautoir.

The second of the two-Test series takes place in Wellington next Saturday, with France being strengthened by the late arrival of half a dozen players. Both sides were missing key players in Dunedin, but the All Blacks had hoped to show they were still a force, even without the talents of Carter and Richie McCaw.

But French substitute Sébastien Chabal believes 'Les Bleus' now hold a significant psychological advantage over the All Blacks. "Next week, if we can stay in the game in the first 30 minutes I think they will start to doubt. If we play 100 per cent and we don't make too many mistakes, we can win next week," he said afterwards.

Although this was France's second successive victory over the All Blacks, it was their first in New Zealand since 1994, and Chabal believes the forwards' initial aggression caught their hosts cold.

"I think that was the key for us winning," admitted Chabal. "We won a lot of the contact area and the All Blacks, we could see in their eyes that they didn't know what to do and they started to doubt. I think we were mentally stronger than them after the first 30 minutes."

Now he is looking forward to trying to inflict a morale boosting series win against New Zealand, although the more short-term goal was to celebrate this victory properly first. "Every win is good, but the All Blacks in New Zealand, you don't do that every week. It's massive," he said.

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