Well, the All Blacks have beaten the French XV side by 5 points in a midweek game at Groupama Stadium over in Lyon in preparation for the test this Sunday morning against Scotland over in Murrayfield in Edinburgh with a news report:
The All Blacks have beaten a rugged French selection XV 28-23 in Lyon and laid the foundation for future success in the process, according to coach Steve Hansen.
A hugely inexperienced New Zealand team trailed 15-14 at halftime in a physical contest before gaining some control soon after the break.
Hansen was delighted his team held its nerve as the final quarter descended into a testy affair and the French scored to close the margin while debut centre Jack Goodhue was in the sin bin for taking out a support runner.
Hansen wanted to assess his next wave of talent in an international cauldron and got the acid test he wanted from a committed home team. That a New Zealand side featuring nine uncapped players and boasting just 150 caps between them clung on could only be positive for the future, he said.
"Everyone put their hand up. You can go right through the group and I think everybody did what we asked them to do and enhanced their reputations," Hansen said.
"The confidence that will give some of those guys, you can't buy. Some of these guys may not get their opportunity until after 2019."
Among New Zealand's best was halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow, in possibly his last game before taking up a French club contract. Hansen said the nuggety Chiefs No.9 he will be missed.
"He's been in outstanding form most of his All Blacks career, I reckon. Do we want him to leave? No. But he's made that decision so then we've got to decide what we do."
Burly flanker Liam Squire shook off the effects of a virus which ruled him out Saturday's 38-18 Test win over France in Paris and unleashed a muscular display to prove he is ready to face Scotland in Edinburgh this weekend.
"I thought he was really physical and punishing with his defence," Hansen said.
The All Blacks' first-half tries were fine team efforts, with both converted from the sideline by first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga.
Squire crossed in the left corner in the 11th minute and Matt Duffie in the right in the 24th, the first All Blacks try for the former Melbourne Storm NRL winger. On both occasions France responded with a try to winger Gabriel Lacroix, the second a 70m intercept effort following a long, loose pass from Ngani Laumape.
Playing with more precision in the third quarter, the visitors create close-range tries to lock Patrick Tuipulotu and Laumape to power 28-15 ahead. The 14-man All Blacks couldn't stop centre Henry Chavancy crossing but were able to hold out the passionate hosts over the final seven minutes.
And the All Blacks team has been named to take on Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh so here is the starting lineup:
FRONT ROW
1 (Loose head prop): Kane Hames (Tasman/Chiefs)
2 (Hooker): Codie Taylor (Canterbury/Crusaders)
3 (Tight head prop): Nepo Laulala (Counties Manukau/Chiefs)
SECOND ROW
4 (Lock): Luke Romano (Canterbury/Crusaders)
5 (Lock): Sam Whitelock (Canterbury/Crusaders)
BACK ROW
6 (Blindside Flanker): Vaea Fifita (Wellington/Hurricanes)
7 (Openside Flanker): Sam Cane (Bay Of Plenty/Chiefs)
8 (Number 8): Kieran Read (Captain, Counties Manukau/Crusaders)
HALVES
9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Manawatu/Highlanders)
10 (First five eighth): Beauden Barrett (Taranaki/Hurricanes)
MIDFIELD
12 (Second five eighth): Sonny Bill Williams (Counties Manukau/Blues)
13 (Centre): Ryan Crotty (Canterbury/Crusaders)
OUTSIDE BACKS
11 (Left Wing): Rieko Ioane (Auckland/Blues)
14 (Right Wing): Waisake Naholo (Taranaki/Highlanders)
& 15 (Fullback): Damian McKenzie (Waikato/Chiefs)
And in the reserves are:
16. Nathan Harris (Who replaces Asafo Aumua with Codie Taylor being elevated into the starting lineup to replace the injured Dane Coles who had to return home)
17. Wyatt Crockett (Who replaces Atu Moli for this clash)
18. Ofa Tu'ungafasi
19. Liam Squire (Who replaces Scott Barrett for this one after a comfortable performance against France XV by overcoming a virus)
20. Matt Todd (Who replaces Akira Ioane to take his place back by covering the openside flanker position)
21. TJ Perenara (Who has replaced Dillon Hunt to cover at halfback)
22. Lima Sopoaga (Who is dropped to the bench to replace Mitchell Drummond to cover at first five)
& 23. Anton Lienert-Brown (Who has replaced Richie Mo'unga to cover at the midfield position).
And the hosts for the 2023 Rugby World Cup goes to France (For only the 2nd time because they 1st hosted it in 2007 a decade ago) as announced by the sport's governing body World Rugby as favourites Ireland had been eliminated during the 1st round of voting before France outperformed the other favourite South Africa in the last round of voting then the decision came from World Rugby as France (Who were clear outsiders to host the 2023 tournament) revealed that they are hosting the 2023 Rugby World Cup (And the French were like: Vive la France! Oui, oui, oui (Yeah, yeah, yeah), merci beaucoup (Thanks very much). Because they were ecstatic & happy about it, so relieved especially the legend of the game, Sebastian 'Caveman/Seabass' Chabal (He was part of France's world cup bidding mastermind for 2023) because it was in fact a shock decision I have to say because not only favourites Ireland were out in the 1st round of voting then another favourite South Africa crashed out in the last round of voting).
And finally here are the list of national teams qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup next year in Russia (And their star men):
Argentina (Lionel Messi)
Australia (Tim Cahill)
Belgium (Eden Hazard)
Brazil (Neymar)
Colombia (James Rodriguez)
Costa Rica (Giancarlo Gonzalez)
Croatia (Luka Modric)
Denmark (Christian Eriksen)
Egypt (Mohamed Salah)
England (Harry Kane)
France (Antoine Griezmann)
Germany (Toni Kroos)
Iceland (Gylfi Sigurdsson)
Iran (Sardur Azmoun)
Japan (Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa & Shinji Okazaki)
Korea Republic (Son Heung-min)
Mexico (Hirving Lozano)
Morocco (Mehdi Benatia)
Nigeria (John Mikel Obi)
Panama (Luis Tejada)
Peru (Jefferson Farfan)
Poland (Robert Lewandowski)
Portugal (Cristiano Ronaldo)
Russia* (Igor Akinfeev)
Saudi Arabia (Nasser Al Shamrani)
Senegal (Sadio Mane)
Serbia (Branislav Ivanovic)
Spain (Isco)
Sweden (Marcus Berg)
Switzerland (Xherdan Shaqiri)
Tunisia (Aymen Abdennour)
& last but not least, Uruguay (Luis Suarez)
*: Hosts
So that is my 165th blog of the year 2017 (MMXVII) & my 85th this year (Only 35 blogs left until I reach the 200 mark).
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