By Lucky Maree
France, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa, are seen as the four teams who are realistically winning the World Cup.
While the match does not have much of an influence on who lifts the Webb Ellis Cup on 28 October, the winner of the match will grab the moral high road for the rest of the tournament.
France:
France has been the front runners to win this World Cup for years, now, and all in all, they will be happy with their preparation.
Their last five matches reveal an up-and-down performance that, if coach Fabien Galthié is not worried about, he should be. An unconvincing win against Wales, a loss and a narrow three-point win over Scotland, then beating Fiji and Australia in unconvincing style.
Displaying that attitude that is described as “typically French”, they have done just enough to win their matches. But “doing just enough” can become a habit. Treating every match like a warm-up may cost them in the long run. Can Galthié get his charges to kick into high gear?
The French have a reputation that they play magnificently well when they have to – but they can also lose interest at that very moment when it matters most. It’s not called a test match for anything.
While they don’t have Romain Ntamack, of course, they do have Antoine Dupont, described by many serious commentators to be the best player of all time (!) and he is a match-winner. And he will no doubt get the best possible ball from one of the most powerful scrum forwards in the tournament.
France also has the power of 80,000 screaming, spitting, hissing, and whistling fans behind them.
New Zealand:
The All Blacks are going to suffer throughout this tournament under the dark cloud of coach Ian Foster. New Zealand rugby fired him (brutally) in favour of Scott Robinson, but told him to fulfil his World Cup obligations, and there and then forced the All Blacks onto the backfoot.
Foster may be living proof that nice guys come second.
This team is chock full of some of the best players in the tournament and they are not going to roll over. But when it matters most, they may run out of options.
On Friday they may not have the muscle to deal with the French forwards, but they have backs like Beauden Barrett and Jordie Barrett and their halfbacks (Aaron Smith and Richie Mo’unga) are a deadly combination.
France vs New Zealand, Fri 8 September at 9.15 pm.
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Pictured above: New Zealand Rugby
Image source:File
