Sunday 29 November 2009

France 12-39 New Zealand


New Zealand rounded off their unbeaten tour of Europe with a superb display to beat France in Marseille on Saturday.
Sitiveni Sivivatu's fine try helped the All Blacks into an early 7-3 lead.
Julien Dupuy edged France 9-7 ahead but Mils Muliania's spectacular try and a Jerome Kaino score helped the visitors into a 22-12 half-time lead.
Cory Jane scored a solo effort after the break and Conrad Smith also crossed as the visitors confirmed their status as the world's number one-ranked team.
The victory means New Zealand will head back to the southern hemisphere, after a final outing against the Barbarians at Twickenham, with four Test wins out of four in Europe, having beaten Wales, England and Italy in the lead-up to the Test against France. Les Bleus have caused plenty of problems for the All Blacks over the years, most recently when an under-strength team stunned New Zealand 27-22 in Dunedin in June.

But any hopes the hosts had of adding the All Blacks' scalp to that of world champions South Africa, who they beat 20-13 a fortnight ago, rapidly disappeared as New Zealand cut loose on the shores of the Mediterranean. Scrum-half Dupuy put the hosts into lead with a penalty after Les Bleus had butchered the All Blacks at a scrum.But the visitors hit back when Jimmy Cowan and Ma'a Nonu combined to make the initial incision deep into French territory before Sivivatu dummied and accelerated over out wide for a superb try.
Carter converted to put the visitors 7-3 up, only for Dupuy to put the hosts back into the lead with two penalties.But the All Blacks were looking lethal out wide and when they counter-attacked from their own 22, Sivivatu raced 50m before sending Muliania over for a spectacular score. Carter missed the conversion but added a penalty to extend the lead before a moment which stunned the hosts.The one area France had enjoyed the upper hand had been in the scrum but in the shadow of their own posts they were pushed back off the ball and Kaino dotted down.Francois Trinh-Duc's drop-goal made it 22-12 at the break but any chance the hosts had of fighting back disappeared when Dupuy missed two penalty attempts.
Fly-half Carter made no mistake when he was presented with a chance to take the lead out to 25-12 and further tries from Jane and Smith - both converted by the All Blacks number 10 - saw New Zealand run out convincing winners.

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