{"id":26932,"date":"2025-07-04T12:25:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T00:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/?p=26932"},"modified":"2025-07-04T12:26:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T00:26:35","slug":"aisle-be-back-all-blacks-v-france-in-dunedin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/2025\/07\/04\/aisle-be-back-all-blacks-v-france-in-dunedin\/","title":{"rendered":"Aisle be Back: All Blacks v France in Dunedin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>\n\t\t<style>\n\t\t\t#wpls-logo-showcase-slider-1 .wpls-fix-box,\n\t\t\t#wpls-logo-showcase-slider-1 .wpls-fix-box img.wp-post-image{max-height:250px; }\n\t\t<\/style>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"wpls-wrap wpls-logo-showcase-slider-wrp wpls-logo-clearfix wpls-design-1 \" data-conf=\"{&quot;slides_column&quot;:4,&quot;slides_scroll&quot;:1,&quot;dots&quot;:&quot;true&quot;,&quot;arrows&quot;:&quot;true&quot;,&quot;autoplay&quot;:&quot;true&quot;,&quot;autoplay_interval&quot;:3000,&quot;loop&quot;:&quot;true&quot;,&quot;rtl&quot;:&quot;false&quot;,&quot;speed&quot;:800,&quot;center_mode&quot;:&quot;false&quot;,&quot;lazyload&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wpls-logo-showcase logo_showcase wpls-logo-slider  sliderimage_hide_border \" id=\"wpls-logo-showcase-slider-1\" >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wpls-logo-cnt\">\n\t<div class=\"wpls-fix-box\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roblawmax.co.nz\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-post-image\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/rmax24.jpg?fit=220%2C120&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" \/>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><div class=\"wpls-logo-cnt\">\n\t<div class=\"wpls-fix-box\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.geeksonwheels.co.nz\/locations\/wellington-computer-repair\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-post-image\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/images.jpg?fit=296%2C170&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" \/>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><div class=\"wpls-logo-cnt\">\n\t<div class=\"wpls-fix-box\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thecallcentre.co.nz\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-post-image\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/TCC-Logo-400x260-1.jpg?fit=400%2C260&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" \/>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><div class=\"wpls-logo-cnt\">\n\t<div class=\"wpls-fix-box\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.partnersfinance.co.nz\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-post-image\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/part2.jpg?fit=300%2C195&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" \/>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>By Kevin McCarthy<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The French are coming \u2013 but they\u2019re sending the Marie-Louises. The young, callow conscripts that Napoleon had to call up in 1813 and 1814 to defend France \u2013 because, basically, he\u2019d killed, maimed or frozen to death most of his old timers.<\/p>\n<p>The European monarchies found this terribly disrespectful, but decided to live with the slight, and go on and win regardless.\u00a0 Okay, that bit is made up.<\/p>\n<p>But pretty much, that\u2019s what the All Blacks, and that anonymous\u00a0 fan in the street, should do and I suspect will do.<\/p>\n<p>France have long signalled they\u2019d\u00a0 be sending their second wavers to New Zealand \u2013 and yes, the NZR may be feeling miffed. But it\u2019s all a bit self-righteous to treat it like some scandalous surprise. If the French had salted in\u00a0 a few old timers \u2013 the ones that aren\u2019t injured or in need of a serious break \u2013 then there probably wouldn\u2019t be much fuss.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, they\u2019ve pretty much clearly said this is how it is \u2013 and they\u2019re going to use this to test their depth and bring through the best of this talent for the World Cup. Indeed, let\u2019s see how many of this squad do end up in that Cup team.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s not a priority.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s not like the All Blacks haven\u2019t 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.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if the Japanese felt disrespected, but fans here surely did.<\/p>\n<p>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?<\/p>\n<p>I doubt the All Blacks will worry that much. Scott Robertson had a rather stiff first few games to navigate \u2013 basically a combative England, before playing twice in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u2013 and it makes Saturday in Dunedin that much more interesting.<\/p>\n<p>I suspect it\u2019s actually going to be closer than many expect \u2013 it being the first hit out for the All Blacks this year, with some rejigged combos.<\/p>\n<p>In the wider world, if the issue of second-string sides is to be tackled \u2013 then World Rugby should consider putting some weighting on every test \u2013 towards some world test final every year or some such. Like cricket \u2013 although in a fathomable form.<\/p>\n<p>It would have to be in a rugby heartland, like sunny Abu Dhabi, of course. Must respect tradition after all.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The All Blacks team to play France is below:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Ethan de Groot (29)<br \/>\n2.\u00a0Codie Taylor (96)<br \/>\n3.\u202f\u202f\u202fFletcher Newell (22)<br \/>\n4.\u202f\u202f\u202fScott Barrett (80) (Captain)<br \/>\n5.\u00a0Fabian Holland *<br \/>\n6.\u202f\u202f\u202fTupou Vaa\u2019i (38)<br \/>\n7.\u202f\u202f\u202fArdie Savea (94) (Vice-Captain)<br \/>\n8.\u202f\u202f\u202fChristian Lio-Willie *<br \/>\n9.\u202f\u202f\u202fCam Roigard (10)<br \/>\n10.\u202fBeauden Barrett (134)<br \/>\n11.Reiko Ioane (81)<br \/>\n12.\u202fJordie Barrett (68) (Vice-Captain)<br \/>\n13.\u202fBilly Proctor (2)<br \/>\n14. \u202fSevu Reece)\u00a032<br \/>\n15.\u202fWill Jordan (41)16.\u202fSamisoni Taukei\u2019aho (30)<br \/>\n17.\u202fOllie Norris *<br \/>\n18. Pasilio Tosi (7)<br \/>\n19.\u202fSamipeni Finau (8)<br \/>\n20.\u202fDu\u2019Plessis Kirifi *<br \/>\n21.\u202fCortez Ratima (11)<br \/>\n22.\u202fQuinn Tupaea (14)<br \/>\n23.\u202fDamian McKenzie (61)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong><em>\n\t\t<style>\n\t\t\t#wpls-logo-showcase-slider-2 .wpls-fix-box,\n\t\t\t#wpls-logo-showcase-slider-2 .wpls-fix-box img.wp-post-image{max-height:250px; }\n\t\t<\/style>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"wpls-wrap wpls-logo-showcase-slider-wrp wpls-logo-clearfix wpls-design-1 \" data-conf=\"{&quot;slides_column&quot;:4,&quot;slides_scroll&quot;:1,&quot;dots&quot;:&quot;true&quot;,&quot;arrows&quot;:&quot;true&quot;,&quot;autoplay&quot;:&quot;true&quot;,&quot;autoplay_interval&quot;:3000,&quot;loop&quot;:&quot;true&quot;,&quot;rtl&quot;:&quot;false&quot;,&quot;speed&quot;:800,&quot;center_mode&quot;:&quot;false&quot;,&quot;lazyload&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wpls-logo-showcase logo_showcase wpls-logo-slider  sliderimage_hide_border \" id=\"wpls-logo-showcase-slider-2\" >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wpls-logo-cnt\">\n\t<div class=\"wpls-fix-box\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roblawmax.co.nz\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-post-image\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/rmax24.jpg?fit=220%2C120&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" \/>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><div class=\"wpls-logo-cnt\">\n\t<div class=\"wpls-fix-box\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.geeksonwheels.co.nz\/locations\/wellington-computer-repair\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-post-image\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/images.jpg?fit=296%2C170&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" \/>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><div class=\"wpls-logo-cnt\">\n\t<div class=\"wpls-fix-box\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thecallcentre.co.nz\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-post-image\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/TCC-Logo-400x260-1.jpg?fit=400%2C260&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" \/>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><div class=\"wpls-logo-cnt\">\n\t<div class=\"wpls-fix-box\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.partnersfinance.co.nz\/\" target=\"_self\">\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-post-image\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/part2.jpg?fit=300%2C195&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" \/>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kevin McCarthy The French are coming \u2013 but they\u2019re sending the Marie-Louises. The young, callow conscripts that Napoleon had to call up in 1813 and 1814 to defend France \u2013 because, basically, he\u2019d killed, maimed or frozen to death most of his old timers. The European monarchies found this terribly disrespectful, but decided to&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,60,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-blacks","category-latest-club-rugby-news","category-representative-rugby"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/all-blacks.jpg?fit=2047%2C916&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbDiON-70o","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26932"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26938,"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26932\/revisions\/26938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clubrugby.nz\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}