Old Hostilities Resumed: New Zealand and France Prepare to Clash

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“We have to accept that we need to suffer,” French skipper Thierry Dusautoir said recently, describing the Rugby World Cup. 91-test All Black Conrad Smith centre laughs when I quote Dusautoir’s line. “Suffer from the hard work? Does he mean during the games? Who knows? That’s a French attitude. It could mean that they’re prepared to fall into the underdog status again, and that’s where they like being.”

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All Blacks backs coach Ian Foster is a touch grumpy when I raise Dusautoir. “I can’t comment on what Dusautoir says, or what he means,” Foster frowns at me. “The only thing I would say is everyone’s going to have to suffer. It’s hard work. Winning the Rugby World Cup is clearly a massive task. It takes a massive degree of sacrifice.”

The French have certainly made the All Blacks, and their supporters, suffer during past Rugby World Cups. The 1999 semi-final between France and New Zealand is one of the tournament’s great games. With the hotly favoured All Blacks ahead 24-10, the French played out of their skins in the second half to win 43-31, scoring some amazing tries. Smith was distraught. But he was also inspired by how the French used intelligence, teamwork and flair. “They’ll see an overlap and they’ll be better than anyone in the world at taking advantage of it. [That] always appealed to me as a young fella.”

In 2007, the French knocked the All Blacks out during Cardiff’s quarter-final, 20-18 the final score. Admittedly, referee Wayne Barnes had a shocker. Barnes (and his touch-judge Jonathan Kaplan) missed playmaker Frederic Michalak’s forward pass that set up the winning try, and numerous penalties against the French.

Dusautoir, not the only Frenchman to have an epic game, made 38 tackles, including a hit that saw star All Blacks’ blindside Jerry Collins leave the field maimed, and led to his being dubbed The Dark Destroyer.

Michalak “gets better with age, like wine”, according to French coach Philippe St-Andre, and re-joins Dusautoir from the class of 2007 this weekend. Though the French didn’t score any tries against Ireland at a scintillatingly atmospheric Millennium Stadium on Sunday, Michalak showed there’s still attacking flair in the crafty old dog yet. The French were up against tens of thousands of exuberant Irish in full voice, but Michalak’s magic glimpses got the supporters in red and blue singing and chanting La Marseillaise like they were in the majority and winning.

It’s not just the World Cup where the French have left the All Blacks hurt. Les Bleus had a good win in Dunedin, New Zealand, during 2009. A little further back, wing-captain St-Andre led France to three wins in a row—including two in New Zealand—during 1994-95; St-Andre’s aggressive panache even saw a young Jonah Lomu dropped!

All that said, most pundits think it is unlikely the French will win again in Cardiff. Some question why St-Andre persists with his lumbering centre Mathieu Bastareaud—a weak link against Ireland—and believe Smith and Ma’a Nonu will again crush him.

Interestingly, there’s a New Zealander in the French squad. Uini Atonio may or may not get into the 23, but against Romania he set up one nice try. The Timaru-born, Auckland-raised number 3 is very quick for a 145 kg, 6ft5 prop. The Wesley College educated Atonio—then known for his stage roles as the likes of Othello‘s Duke—has trimmed down about 19kgs, and speaks French beautifully after his RWC-qualifying three years of residency. Fellow Samoan Charlie Faumuina rates Atonio. “He’s a big boy. He gets around the field.”

Smith, an ESPN 30 for 30 obsessive, relishes Al Pacino’s delightful rant about football being “a game of inches” in Any Given Sunday. “You never have to look far,” he says, referring to both the All Blacks’ narrowest of wins—8 points to 7— in the 2011 final against France in Auckland, and his side’s potential semi-final opponents, South Africa. “Even our last game against South Africa. There was a disallowed try by the South Africans, and then they conceded one by the same thing. Talking to some of their players straight after our game it was all we talked about. They’d just lost two games and both of them could have easily gone the other way. When you get two good teams it’s not often decisive victories. Inches are all it’s decided by, and this World Cup is going to be exactly the same.”

Smith’s forward teammates Dane Coles and Brodie Retallick agree rugby’s “a game of inches”. Retallick, World Rugby Player of 2014, says Richie McCaw’s understudy Sam Cane—captain against Namibia—is the team expert on this topic: “Sam Cane does a pretty good version of that speech. You should ask him about it.”

Smith brings an intellectual and creative approach to the white chalk lines. “I watch a lot of art forms, read books, and I always try and find ways to relate it back to my life or what I’m going through, whether it’s rugby [or not]. Sometimes the links are very tenuous, and I don’t often share it: people probably wouldn’t understand what I’m talking about!” he says with a self-effacing laugh.

Colin Meads, the greatest All Black personality of all time, highlighted the centre’s importance back in 2008. “Conrad’s a great player! One of our best,” Pinetree’s craggy face lit up. Smith proved his durability during this tournament’s pool play. His defence and backline leadership was to the fore during the Tonga test. And that slithering run against Los Pumas shows the man they call Snakey’s X-factor on attack. As All Blacks’ counter-attack guru Wayne “The Professor” Smith says, Conrad doesn’t give any hints when he’s evading defenders: “Most players weave and bob prior to side-stepping, whereas Conrad just changes direction mid-stride. He doesn’t give the defender a clue that it’s coming or off which foot. This is his magic.”

Conrad’s one of 23 All Black teammates who could make the difference. Richie McCaw. A (finally) resurgent Dan Carter. Wings so good one of Julian Savea, Waisake Naholo and Nehe Milner-Skudder won’t be able to start. Yet, it’s hard to rule out the French—who have only missed the Rugby World Cup semi-finals once. The number one reason is Dusautoir, World Rugby player of the year 2011.

Straight after the Irish cauldron on and off the field at the Millennium Stadium, Dusautoir was ever ice-cold at the conference in the ground’s serpentine press den. His striking inscrutable calm was balanced by St-Andre’s fiery directness. Unlike his over-spun All Blacks’ counterpart Steve Hansen—who unconvincingly PR-talked in Newcastle that he didn’t care at all whether the All Blacks played the French or Irish (the latter have never beaten them, or made a World Cup semi-final). St-Andre didn’t shadowbox around how much 2007 will inspire his troops. “Of course,” he said. Before adding the game will be a “massive, massive fight”, and flashing that Gallic grin.