Aisle be Back: All Blacks v France in Dunedin

• By Kevin McCarthy

The French are coming – but they’re sending the Marie-Louises. The young, callow conscripts that Napoleon had to call up in 1813 and 1814 to defend France – because, basically, he’d killed, maimed or frozen to death most of his old timers.

The European monarchies found this terribly disrespectful, but decided to live with the slight, and go on and win regardless.  Okay, that bit is made up.

But pretty much, that’s what the All Blacks, and that anonymous  fan in the street, should do and I suspect will do.

France have long signalled they’d  be sending their second wavers to New Zealand – and yes, the NZR may be feeling miffed. But it’s all a bit self-righteous to treat it like some scandalous surprise. If the French had salted in  a few old timers – the ones that aren’t injured or in need of a serious break – then there probably wouldn’t be much fuss.

Instead, they’ve pretty much clearly said this is how it is – and they’re going to use this to test their depth and bring through the best of this talent for the World Cup. Indeed, let’s see how many of this squad do end up in that Cup team.

Galthie already knows his frontliners can more than match the best All Black sides of recent years. As much as it would be great to finally see a Dupont here (a mysterious force field stops him at the Equator) you can see why it’s not a priority.

And it’s not like the All Blacks haven’t done some seriously weird stuff, such as the All Black team Steve Hansen sent to Japan, while the real team shuttled up to the Northern Hemisphere.  I don’t know if the Japanese felt disrespected, but fans here surely did.

Will there be a drubbing or three? Who knows. This is the French after all. They many turn out to be the Baby Bleus. How famous will they be?

I doubt the All Blacks will worry that much. Scott Robertson had a rather stiff first few games to navigate – basically a combative England, before playing twice in South Africa.

This time the breathing space may be very welcome. It would be interesting if he would have put in a rookie like Fabian Holland out against the French first team. But now he has – and it makes Saturday in Dunedin that much more interesting.

I suspect it’s actually going to be closer than many expect – it being the first hit out for the All Blacks this year, with some rejigged combos.

In the wider world, if the issue of second-string sides is to be tackled – then World Rugby should consider putting some weighting on every test – towards some world test final every year or some such. Like cricket – although in a fathomable form.

It would have to be in a rugby heartland, like sunny Abu Dhabi, of course. Must respect tradition after all.

The All Blacks team to play France is below:

1. Ethan de Groot (29)
   2. Codie Taylor (96)
   3.   Fletcher Newell (22)
   4.   Scott Barrett (80) (Captain)
   5. Fabian Holland *
   6.   Tupou Vaa’i (38)
   7.   Ardie Savea (94) (Vice-Captain)
   8.   Christian Lio-Willie *
   9.   Cam Roigard (10)
   10. Beauden Barrett (134)
   11.Reiko Ioane (81)
   12. Jordie Barrett (68) (Vice-Captain)
   13. Billy Proctor (2)
   14.  Sevu Reece) 32
   15. Will Jordan (41)16. Samisoni Taukei’aho (30)
   17. Ollie Norris *
   18. Pasilio Tosi (7)
   19. Samipeni Finau (8)
   20. Du’Plessis Kirifi *
   21. Cortez Ratima (11)
   22. Quinn Tupaea (14)
   23. Damian McKenzie (61)