The All Blacks kick off their European tour against France hoping to brush aside their upset loss to the Wallabies three weeks ago. Catch all the live scores, highlights and action on The Roar from 6:45am (AEDT).
Despite bringing home the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup for another year, New Zealand find themselves in somewhat of a rare situation for them.
Wallabies vs Wales
» Match Report: Wallabies hold on
» Quiqley: Wallabies discipline a concern
» Five talking points from the match
» Team changes for the match vs England
» Vote in our DIY player ratings
» Re-live the match with our live blog
Coming into a Test match off the back of a loss.
The All Blacks went down 23-18 in Brisbane three weeks ago, in what was just their third loss from their last 33 games.
In better news for the All Blacks though, they’re coming up against a French side who have been deflated by a horror June series in South Africa and off-field pressure on coach Guy Noves and the French Rugby Federation.
Les Bleus were rolled by the Springboks away from home, losing all three Tests by 23, 22 and 23 points respectively.
It was a disappointing trip to the Southern Hemisphere for the French having finished equal second in the Six Nations tournament earlier in the year.
If the odds weren’t against them already, France will head into the game knowing that it’s been eight years since they last beat the All Blacks and are on a 10-game losing streak against the world champions.
It’s also been 17 years since they beat New Zealand in France, 44 years since they beat them in Paris, and they’ve never beaten them at Stade de France.
France will have their fourth Test match of the year against South Africa to look forward to after this.
For New Zealand, they have Scotland to look forward to.
Team News
French coach Noves has made a few interesting choices for his line up, picking four uncapped players to make their debut in the starting side.
Toulon fly-half Anthony Belleau has been called in for his first Test, replacing the injured Camille Lopez who is gone for five months with a leg injury.
Outside centre Geoffrey Doumayrou, lock Paul Gabrillagues and flanker Judicael Cancoriet are the other three names to make their international debut today.
Halfback Antoine Dupont is just 20 years old and will get his first starting spot having debuted off the bench against the Springboks back in June.
Mathieu Bastareaud also comes into the side having not played for the French side since the 2015 World Cup.
For the All Blacks, coach Steve Hansen will welcome back star five-eighth Beauden Barrett who returns to the side after missing the last Test against the Wallabies.
Vaea Fifita gets his chance to shine starting in the scrum thanks to the absence of Jerome Kaino who has been sent back to New Zealand with a knee injury.
Liam Squire won’t be lining up in black either due to illness.
Rieko Ioane returns to the line-up after recovering from a dislocated finger.
Prediction
It’s hard to see the All Blacks losing this one.
They’ll be fired up after the loss in Brisbane and they’re coming up against a side in disarray at the moment. France will hopefully put up a better fight than they did against the Boks, but unfortunately for them, they have to do it against the best in the world.
New Zealand to win by 28
The All Blacks performing a haka prior to a Test match against France. France XV vs New Zealand, autumn international: What time does it start, what TV channel is it on and what is the team news? History of rugby union matches between France and New Zealand. Watch Free Live: http://t.co/lPKL57jgXH Watch Free Live: http://t.co/lPKL57jgXH
Jake
Guest
Ideally he should make a return to the Kiwis thereby lifting the standard of both teams
The All Blacks kick off their European tour against France hoping to brush aside their upset loss to the Wallabies three weeks ago.
Taylorman
Guest
Thanks Drongo, made my mind up. Turkey for Christmas dinner it is then.
Cuw
Guest
we can agree to disagree. the Read one was a bad call simply becoz the height difference between read and the Hooker. The french hooker jumped up to tackle Read and hit his face. not so long ago a tackle like that got Quade Cooper a yellow. also i agree that guys get carded for tackling players who duck in or even fall into the tackle BUT there is clear guidelines for tackles above shoulder from WR. especially any contact on head is a card - color is up to the ref. other wise all the guys who get penalized and even carded in Aviva and top 14 and Champions league and what not have a big case against the refs LOL :)
Kane
Guest
Folau's been caught out too, I remember a Tah's game where he batted it out five from the line and got carded for it.
Jerry
Guest
The ALB one was worse IMO. Refs give a penalty when a guy ducks into a tackle and gets hit high - ALB was bent at the waist for a good couple of seconds before Basteraud comes in and hits him - and him not having the ball was the icing on the cake. But Gardner - who'd reversed a pen a few minutes earlier cause of an AB retaliating - thought it was best to just talk to the captains and give no pen. Poor call.
Cuw
Guest
i beg to differ - it was the attempted tackle on Read by the hooker who ended up hitting him on the face. after looking at it on telly Gardener said there is nothing init. those words are contradictory to the World Rugby guidelines that say any tackle above shoulder is a penalty and any head contact is a cardable ( either color). unless u do not consider the face has part of the head !!!
Cuw
Guest
well if that is the case , then i am pretty sure whoever reffed the first game auzzy Taqele Naiyaravoro played in union , ALSO DID NOT KNOW. becoz he did the same thing - slapping the ball behind the dead ball line , league style - and it was just a penalty. i still remember how Folau was telling him not to do that but just ground the ball.
Jerry
Guest
I thought his worst decision was not pinging Basteraud for hitting ALB high and without the ball - not sure 'He was gonna pick up the ball' is an excuse for either offence.
Jerry
Guest
3 times, he managed to get carded in 3 minutes in the RWC 2011 semi remember...
Drongo
Guest
Ha, ha, all great responses, up to the usual standard. Sorry to interrupt, go back to your moaning now.
rebel
Guest
Yip and some Einstein on another story tried to claim NZ refs are the worst.
rebel
Guest
Wrong story Drongo, ref whinging is on the Wallabies tab.
rebel
Guest
No by SBW who thought it was the same laws as league.
Chas
Guest
Didn't know that either. Pretty clear cut in this case then and not a bad rule IMO.
Harry
Guest
This is a quote from Steve Hansen, Jacko: "I was surprised until Fozzie (assistant coach Ian Foster) told me the rules. I didn't realise that, once he committed that foul play, he was then deemed to be invisible. If you commit foul play ingoal you're not there. Once I understood that, it was obviously going to be a penalty try because [Yoann Huget] might have caught it." Still, whatever you say.
Brizvegas
Guest
Waxhead it was more than 1 poor decision there were a number of times where he was confusing both teams with his scrum rulings and lineout rulings. That added to the frustrations to both sides and contributed to a fairly disjointed match. Gardner is still a ref with his L plates on and it showed. Just my opinion but i was getting confused watching the game definitely not being negative just thought he had a poor game.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yeah well thats twice hes forgotten what sport hes playing and his team have paid for it.
Jacko
Guest
Harry the rules do not call it an act of foul play.It is an illegal play