All Blacks v France #3 Stat Attack

New Zealand completed a clean sweep against France in this three-test series. It was the fifth time they have  achieved this at home: also in 1961, 1968, 2013, 2018 and 2025.

New Zealand and France have now met 67 times: New Zealand has won 51 matches to France’s 15. There has been one draw.

The record between the two countries in New Zealand is played 34: the home side has won 30 and the visitors have won four.

New Zealand’s three wins in a row in this series against France followed three defeats in succession against  them.

The All Blacks have now won 502 test matches: 251 have been at a home venue and 251 have been outside  New Zealand.

The All Blacks played their 17th test in Hamilton but it was the first against France at this venue. The home side has lost just one of their matches in Hamilton: 29-32 against South Africa in 2009.

This was the third time the All Blacks scored 29 points in a test at Hamilton. Their lowest score at the venue is 28 points in their 28-13 win against Argentina in 2013.

Hamilton is the 14th different city in which New Zealand and France have played against each other, and FMG  Stadium Waikato is the 20th different ground. Five cities have been host to more than one venue: Christchurch,  Dunedin, Toulouse and Wellington have all provided two grounds whilst Paris, where the first-ever test between the two sides was played, has provided three grounds.

The All Blacks have conceded just 16 tries in their 17 tests in Hamilton whilst scoring 120 themselves.

The All Blacks average 51.5 points a test in Hamilton.

France dropped a goal, their 27th against New Zealand and first since losing 9-24 at New Plymouth in 2013. The record for most dropped goals in a match against New Zealand is three: achieved on three occasions. Once by Argentina and twice by France.

Hugo Porta kicked all three drop goals for Argentina against New Zealand at Buenos Aires in 1985 (match  drawn 21-21) whilst Jean-Patrick Lescarboura kicked three for France at Christchurch in 1986, the match won 18-9 by the home side. The three dropped goals kicked by France at Christchurch in 1994 were shared by two different players. This match incidentally saw Jonah Lomu make his All Black debut and France’s Philippe Sella become the first-ever player to appear in 100 tests.

For the record the most drop goals kicked in a test by a player is five: by Jannie de Beer for South Africa
against England at Paris in their Quarterfinal match at the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

The All Blacks prevented France from scoring in the second half of a test between the two for the 15th time.  They have also kept them scoreless in the first half on nine occasions. At Christchurch in 2013 the home side beat France 30-0.

The All Blacks were behind 17-19 at halftime. This brought an end to a sequence where they had been ahead after 40 minutes in every one of their previous 14 tests. However, their best sequence of being ahead at halftime  happened not that long ago. From their final match of 2020 against Argentina at Newcastle to the match against Ireland at Dublin in 2021, the All Blacks were not headed in 15 successive matches. That sequence was broken by France in Paris when after the home team had led 24-6 at the halfway mark, they went on to  win 40-25.

The All Blacks starting XV boasted 521 caps between them whilst the French XV started the match with 248 appearances. This was substantially more than the 63 who fronted up in the previous test at Wellington. In that test the All Blacks XV had started with 681 caps following the 727 in the first test in Dunedin.

France made eight changes to their starting XV from the one which started the previous match in Wellington.

The All Blacks made 10 changes to their starting XV. There were six in the backs and four in the forwards.

A total of seven overseas-born players appeared for the All Blacks in this test including all of the front row: Ethan de Groot (Australia), Samisoni Taukei’aho (Tonga) and Tyrel Lomax (Australia).

Seven players appeared for the first time this season: Anton Lienert-Brown, Lomax and Ruben Love all started whilst George Bower, Noah Hotham, Brodie McAlister and Dalton Papali’i went on as replacements.

George Bower was making his first appearance since the All Blacks final test of 2022 against England at
Twickenham which was drawn 25-25.

Luke Jacobson was down to play his first test of the year but a late injury kept him out and Christian Lio-Willie, who was not originally picked, was his replacement. As it turned out, Lio-Willie was not required to take the. field.

Brothers Beauden and Scott Barrett were not considered for this test due to injury and Jordie was not initially picked to play. However, a late withdrawal by Rieko Ioane who was down to start, necessitated a re-jig of the backline and Jordie was brought in as a replacement. This ensured that at least one of the Barrett brothers had appeared in all but three of the last 120 All Black tests since the Rugby World Cup pool match against Tonga at Newcastle in 2015. For those who wish to know, the three Barrett-less matches were against Japan at Tokyo in 2022, Australia at Dunedin in 2023 and Japan at Yokohama in 2024.

Ardie Savea captained the side for the 12th time and also led the Haka for just the second time.

Will Jordan scored the All Blacks first try: his 42nd in 44 matches. It was his fourth against France, all of which were scored during this series. He scored twice in the first test in Dunedin and once in the previous test in Wellington. Jordan is now just two tries short of Jeff Wilson who is in sixth place on the All Blacks all-time try scoring list with 44 tries in 60 matches.

Will Jordan previously scored a try at Hamilton against Fiji in 2021.

Anton Lienert-Brown scored his 16th try in his 85th test match. It was his first against France and first on his “home” ground.

The other two tries were scored by first-timers Du’Plessis Kirifi and debutant Brodie McAlister. It was Kirifi’s third test and his first start. McAlister is the 153rd All Black to score at least one try on debut and as a matter of interest, the person he replaced, hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho, scored two tries on his test debut against Fiji at Hamilton in 2021. Brodie McAlister is All Black #1229.

Damian McKenzie kicked nine points (his first on his “home” ground) to take his total in 64 tests to 320. He is now just two points behind Aaron Cruden who with 322 points lies in sixth place on the All Blacks all-time point scoring ladder. During the match McKenzie brought up 50 points against France and his total now sits on 56.

Ruben Love, in his second test and making his first start, attempted a dropped goal in the 71st minute.

The French scored just one try, by Nolann Le Garrec. It was his third in 13 tests and first against New Zealand.

With 11 points off the boot he scored 16 points in the match and a total of 30 during the series. His total in all tests is now 40.

The other points, a rare drop goal against the All Blacks, were contributed by Antoine Hastoy. This was in the  24th minute and he had another attempt two minutes into the second half..

Interestingly France’s first four scoring methods were a try, a conversion, a penalty and a drop goal.

Demba Bamba made his first appearance in the series off the bench. It was his 29th test match.

France amassed 63 points during the three tests made up of six tries, six conversions, six penalties and a dropped goal. Nolann Le Garrec was the top point scorer with 30 points. No player scored more than one try.

New Zealand totalled 103 points made up of 14 tries, 12 conversions and three penalties. Beauden Barrett was the top points scorer with 22 points. Will Jordan was the top try scorer with four.

Only two French players started in every match: Theo Attissogbe and Nolann Le Garrec. Four All Blacks
started in every match: Ethan de Groot, Fabian Holland, Will Jordan and Ardie Savea.

France used 35 players (including 14 debutants) and New Zealand 33 including six debutants.

Three yellow cards were issued during the series: one to New Zealand and two to France.

Referee Angus Gardner was in charge of his third test which involved New Zealand and France. Overall he has  blown the whistle in 16 All Black tests.

New Zealand has now played 654 tests for 502 wins (76.8%), 129 losses and 23 draws.