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The All Blacks opened their international season with twin wins over France in Dunedin and Wellington in the first two weekends of July.
Some facts and figures from both games follow below by statistician Peter Marriott (second test first):
New Zealand v France in Wellington: Won 43-17
This was the All Blacks 50th victory in 66 tests against France. They are the third country they have beaten 50 times after Australia (126) and South Africa (62).
The All Blacks and France have now met eight times in Wellington. The hosts have yet to lose although France registered their highest score in Wellington bettering their previous best total of 13 points which they scored the last time they played in the Capital in 2018.
This was the All Blacks’ 250th win (in 302 matches) at a home venue. A breakdown of those wins is: at Albany (seven), Auckland (84), Christchurch (43), Dunedin (43), Hamilton (15), Napier (two), Nelson (one), New Plymouth (four) and Wellington (51).
The All Blacks have won their last two tests in a row at Wellington. This follows on from a sequence in the seven previous matches of a loss, a win, a loss, two draws and two losses.
The All Blacks 43 points is their highest score in a test at Wellington since they beat Canada 79-15 during a World Cup pool match in 2011.
The All Blacks regained the Dave Gallaher Trophy having won the first two tests of the series with one test remaining. France had held it since 2021.
Just one player made his All Black test debut in this match. Timoci Tavatavanawai went on as a temporary replacement early on when Jordie Barrett went off for an HIA which he passed. With 15 minutes remaining Tavatavanawai permanently replaced Barrett.
Timoci Tavatavanawai became All Black #1228 and he is the 10th player born in Fiji to represent New Zealand at test level. Those before him, in chronological order, were Bernie Fraser, Joeli Vidiri, Joe Rokocoko, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Waisake Naholo, Seta Tamanivalu, Sevu Reece, Pita Gus Sowakula and Emoni Narawa. The last named replaced an injured Reece from the first test in Dunedin and altogether a total of seven overseas-born players made an appearance in this test.
France debuted six players in the match to take the tally in two tests to 14. That translates to 111 players in total having made their test debut against New Zealand, 73 of whom were away from home.
The French starting XV had just 63 caps between them, 153 fewer than that which started in Dunedin. Their most experienced player was Nolann Le Garrec with 11 test appearances with only one other being in double figures, the captain Gaetan Barlot (10). There were four debutants.
The All Blacks starting XV had 681 caps between them which included one centurion (Beauden Barrett 135 caps) and two other players who have appeared in more than 90 matches: Codie Taylor (97) and Ardie Savea (95). Two more had each played in excess of 50 matches.
Once again the French bench was not too far behind the All Black bench in terms of caps awarded. The hosts eight totalled 124 including one debutant whilst the French eight totalled 111 and included two debutants.
France had made 10 changes to the starting XV from the previous match in Dunedin whereas the All Blacks had made just two which were due to injuries picked up in the first test.
Cameron Roigard scored his eighth try in 12 appearances. It was his second against France and first in Wellington.
Before this match Roigard’s tries had all been scored against different countries and in different cities: against South Africa in London, Uruguay in Lyon, France in Paris, two against Namibia in Toulouse, Italy in Turin and Japan in Yokohama.
Captaining New Zealand in a test for the 11th time, Ardie Savea scored his 29th try in his 96th appearance.
Sky Television stated it was a new record for most tries scored by a forward surpassing the 28 scored
by Richie McCaw. This is not correct as McCaw “only” scored 27 tries having wrongly been accredited with a penalty try against Ireland at Dublin in 2008. The try should have been accredited to the team. Savea actually surpassed McCaw’s record when he scored against Australia in Sydney last year.
Ardie Savea has now scored three tries against France and crossed the try-line four times in Wellington.
Codie Taylor touched down for his 22nd try in his 98th test. It was his second try against France both of which have been scored in Wellington.
Tupou Vaa’i also scored a try, his fifth in 40 matches. He had scored in the previous test in Dunedin but it washis first try in Wellington.
Will Jordan scored his 41st test try in his 43rd appearance. He had scored two in the previous match in Dunedin and now has three against France. It was only his second try in Wellington.
Rieko Ioane’s try was his 38th in 83 test matches. Previously he had scored two tries at Auckland and three at Dunedin when France toured in 2018. He also scored a try at Paris in 2021. His try tally in Wellington is three: he scored two during the match against South Africa, also in 2018.
Beauden Barrett’s 11 points for the second successive test took his total against France to 83 and in all matches played in Wellington to 72. His tally in 136 tests is 794 points.
Barrett was awarded a yellow card in the 19th minute. Interestingly all three Barretts, Jordie, Scott and now Beauden, have received a yellow card during the last five All Black matches. Jordie copped his in the 39th minute of his match whilst both Scott and Beauden were both caught out in the 19th minute of their respective matches.
Jordie picked up two points and now has a total of 304 in all tests, 27 of which have been scored against France and 35 in Wellington.
France’s two tries were scored by Leo Barre and Joshua Brennan. It was Barre’s fourth try in eight tests and first against New Zealand.
Joshua Brennan was born in Ireland and was on debut. He incurred the wrath of the authorities and received a yellow card in the 28th minute.
Nolann Le Garrec kicked five points to add to the seven he scored in Dunedin. His total in 12 test appearances is 24 points.
Antoine Hastoy contributed two points, his first against New Zealand. In nine test appearances he has scored 27 points.
Christophe Ridley, the French-born but England domiciled referee, was in charge of his first test which involved New Zealand. He had previously been an assistant referee in 11 All Black tests.
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New Zealand v France in Dunedin: Won 31-27
New Zealand and France first met in a test at Parc des Princes on 1 January 1906. New Zealand won the
match 38-8. It was New Zealand’s eighth-ever international and France’s first official test.
The two sides have now met on 65 occasions: New Zealand has won 49 times and France 15 times. There
was one drawn match, in 2002.
France did not play a test in New Zealand until 1961 but have now gone on to play 32 times against the All Blacks at home: the hosts have won 28 of those matches to France’s four.
Before this match France had played twice at Dunedin winning 27-22 at the old Carisbrook Ground in 2009 (their last win in New Zealand) and losing 14-49 at Forsyth Barr Stadium which was the final test of a three-test series during their last tour in 2018.
The All Blacks win prevented a new French record for most test wins in a row against them. France had won the previous three tests on the trot (all in Paris) which equalled the three the All Blacks lost in 1994/95 at Christchurch, Auckland and Toulouse respectively.
This was the 50th test played by the All Blacks in Dunedin. Their first-ever was a one-off match at Tahuna Park in 1905 followed by 38 matches at Carisbrook. The first match at Forsyth Barr Stadium was in 2012 and since then 11 tests have now been held there. New Zealand has only lost one test at the current ground and that was against Ireland in 2022. Before that their previous loss in Dunedin had been to France at Carisbrook in 2009.
One of the most important milestones in New Zealand rugby was achieved in this match. After 652 tests played since 1903, the All Blacks brought up their 500th win. They have lost 129 times and drawn 23 times. Their winning percentage is 76.7 which is the highest of all the major test playing countries. France has won the second most matches: 460 from 829 attempts.
For the record, the All Blacks have won 249 matches at home and 251 away from New Zealand.
The All Blacks went into this match having conceded 8974 points in all of their previous matches. France’s 27 points tipped the total over 9000 which now rests on 9001.
Four players made their test debut in this match. Fabian Holland (the first to be born in the Netherlands and play a test for the All Blacks) and Christian Lio-Willie both started whilst Du’Plessis Kirifi and Ollie Norris (born in Australia) went on as replacements.
Altogether, a total of six overseas-born players appeared for the All Blacks during the test.
Before the match the All Blacks performed the Haka, the Kapa o Pango but for the first time introduced the Maripi which is a traditional Māori weapon or tool.
(I am not sure if this was a first but every one of the 23 All Blacks who lined up for the National Anthems, wore fluorescent green boots. I admit to being colour-blind).
France brought what was labelled a “B” side to New Zealand and in this test eight players made their debut including five in the starting line-up. Of the other 10 just two had played more than 19 tests (the captain Gael Fickou had 94 appearances under his belt and Rabah Slimani had 57) whilst the rest (eight) had just 65 caps between them. The starting line-up boasted a total of 216 appearances compared to the All Blacks 727.
The French bench mustered a total of 106 appearances although one player Romain Taofifenua (54 caps) was responsible for half that number. The All Black reserves totalled 131 caps.
Of the French debutants three were born overseas. Giorgi Beria (Georgia) and Tyler Duguid (Canada) started the match and Jacobus van Tonder (South Africa) came off the bench.
The eight who debuted in this match took the number of French players whose first-ever test was against New Zealand to 105, 67 of which have done so in New Zealand.
Speaking of the touring side being referred to as a “B” team it should be remembered in 2007 the French played two test matches: the first was in Wellington when three players made their debut and then in Auckland when 11 played their first test. That touring party was labelled a “C” side by the New Zealand media.
During the current test the All Blacks had three on-field tries awarded only to have every decision reversed by the TMO.
Will Jordan scored the first legitimate try for New Zealand in 2025 and went on to score a second. He now has a total of 40 in 42 appearances. He is the seventh All Black to bring up 40 test tries and is only nine short of equalling Doug Howlett’s record total of 49, in 62 matches.
It was the eighth time Jordan has scored two or more tries in a match, the third time he has scored in Dunedin and his first tries against France.
Jordan’s second try brought up the All Blacks 100th try in all tests against France in New Zealand.
Tupou Vaa’i scored his fourth try in his 39th test.
Jordie Barrett scored his 26th test try, in his 69th test appearance. He had previously scored tries against
France at Wellington in 2018 (two) and at Paris in 2021. He scored a try against Fiji at Dunedin in 2021.
Barrett’s try in this match brought up 300 test points for the All Blacks and he is the eighth player to reach this milestone. He currently sits on 302 points just nine behind team-mate Damian McKenzie who has 311 points from 62 appearances.
Jordie Barrett’s try was the third of four during the match and brought up the 200th All Black try in all tests against France.
Beauden Barrett missed none of his five attempts at goal and his 11 points took his overall tally in 135 test
matches to 783. He lies in third place on the All Blacks all-time list of most points scored, 184 points shy
of Andrew Mehrtens who is in second place with 967.
Beauden Barrett has accumulated 72 points against France and 77 points in Dunedin test matches.
Quinn Tupaea played his first test match in three years. His last appearance was against Australia at
Melbourne in 2022. In between times he missed 31 matches.
For just the second time in 39 matches, Ardie Savea played in his rightful position at No 7. The other occasion was also against France, at Paris last year.
Sevu Reece left the field for an HIA just 57 seconds into the match. He failed his assessment and was
replaced by Damian McKenzie who played until the end of the match.
Incumbent New Zealand captain Scott Barrett led the side for the 12th time.
France scored three tries: by Mickael Guillard, Gabin Villiere and Cameron Woki. None of these players had previously scored against New Zealand and neither had the two goal kickers used, Joris Segonds (three points) and Nolann Le Garrec (nine points). Both players were successful with all of their attempts at goal. Gabin Villiere was yellow carded 13 minutes after scoring his try.
Nic Berry refereed his eighth test involving New Zealand. It was his first with France as the opposition.
