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By: Paul Rolton
All Blacks V France July 12th 2025:Lead by Captain Fantastic Ardie Savea, back in front of his home crowd after spending the last super season with Moana Pacifica, the All Blacks have sown up the Dave Gallaher Trophy 2-0 with a test to play, after a convincing 43-17 victory over a very second string looking French team at Sky Stadium in Wellington on Saturday night.
Whilst not dominating the scrum exchanges like they had the week before under the roof in Dunedin, the All Blacks forwards won the rest of the contests, and importantly the gain line battle to see the game over, score wise, at halftime with the AB’s ahead 29-3 at the break.
The six tries to two victory was based on a dominant breakdown display where loose forward trio Savea Tupou Vaa’i and Christian Leo Willie were strong both with ball in hand and around maul time with each gaining timely turnovers. At lineout the locking pair of rookie Fabian Holland, who continue his meteoric rise and veteran PatrickTuipulotu dominate their own lineout ball whilst disrupting any flow the French could get with some clean steals, including a outstanding one hander from Tuipulotu and numerous one handed disruption’s which stifled the attacking options for the dangerous French back line.
After an early Beauden Barrett penalty from a handy position, the All Blacks started their try scoring in the 14th minute with a well worked blindside attack from a lineout were the deception from the rear of the lineout allowed Savea to sneak around the front and release a well time pass to halfback Cam Roigard who had a unopposed 30 metre run to the line, a move that forwards coach Bryn Evans is claiming as his own.
After Beauden Barrett was yellow carded in the 19th minute for what was deemed as a professional foul when he stuck his hand out to make contact with a French pass, halfback Nolan Le Garrec kicked a penalty from close to the post to put his team on the board.
The second AB’s try came after they chose to kick for a lineout from a penalty, that the now dominant All Blacks won at the front, and after a strong drive Savea broke blind and with a show of strength which is now his trademark, had him slam the ball down with one hand for a commanding 17-3 lead. Jordy Barrett converted, with his brother still in the bin to take it to 19-3.
The third try came after an AB attack broke down with a loose pass and the French kicked long to set up a opportunity which was brough back when the TMO found a lifting offence on Jordy Barrett that would see Irish born French second rower Josh Brennan sent to the Sin Bin, and the All Black’s return 60 metres back up field where they again go to the line for a chance to attacked from a lineout.
Another Holland lineout win, and a well-executed drive see’s veteran hooker Codie Taylor crash over for the try, which was converted by the returning Beauden Barrett for 22-3.
The best was yet to come for the AB’s when in the 36th minute they attacked down the left hand side, Savea makes a nice outside break around French number 10 Joris Segonds , and after giving a flick pass from the ground and quick hands from his team mates the ball found its way to Reiko Ioane, who made a dominant midfield bust that then saw Holland, roving around like a loose forward, offload to a rampaging Tupu Vaa’i, who is starting to look like the All Blacks answer to their problems in the number 6 jersey, who dives over under the bar in the tackle of two French defenders, an easy Beauden Barrett conversion confirms the dominance of the Abs with a halftime score of 29 – 3.
The second 40 minutes never rose to great heights with both sides struggling to get any dominance, whilst the impact from the bench never really came.
The French gave their supporters some hope with a well taken try early in the second half after some heavy work from the forwards saw fullback Leo Barre scoring in the tackle of Will Jordan, with the conversion from Le Carrec bring them into double figures. The comeback was short lived after the All Black forwards did some damaging work of their own close to the French line in the 54th minute, which saw Jordan score his almost inevitable try he gets each test after running a very good line of a Beauden Barett pass.
The AB’s were next to score when Reiko Ioane, who had one of his most industrious outings in a black jersey for some time, was on the end of some slick passing from Du Plessis Kirifi and Jordy Barrett for Ioane to sneak in with inches to spare on the left side, which was completed with an outstanding touchline conversion from Beauden Barrett. The French had the final say in the 77th minute when the big lock Brennan paid his side back for his time in the bin, with a well taken try after his forward pack kept the ball to themselves and battered a tiring AB’s pack into conceding the final 7 points.
For the French there will be a lot to think about before the final test in Hamilton, with coach Fabien Galthie having seen most of his squad now being well placed to put out his best XV in Hamilton. Fullback Barre was again outstanding especially in his attack, whilst hooker and captain Gaetan Barlot had a great 60 minutes in an outplayed French forward pack.
The All Blacks showed improvement all over the park from the 1st test, with the forwards gaining good metres with their slick short passing, their ability to provide quick ball for their backs to use and the strength of lineout work. Tuipulotu had one of his best tests, and other than a sloppy lineout take and a loose carry early in the 2nd half, Dutch born Holland again showed he has a bright future for his adopted country. In general terms the fringe defense from the Abs was outstanding and this in turn frustrated a French team that had 72 less caps in their starting XV than Beauden Barrett.
Complementing the forwards domination was another good performance from Roigard, with the length of his defensive kicks allowing the AB’s to play most of the game in the right areas of the park. Equally his attacking kicks were of a better length this game than the last which provided contestable opportunities for his side and coupled with a better tactical kicking game from Beauden Barrett in this test they kept pressure on an inexperience French team.
Still probably only a 7 out of 10 for the AB’s, as they didn’t put the French away in the second half as they should have but a big step up from the 1st test.
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