New Caledonian rugby star in French line-up against New Zealand

                               Benjamin Fall and other French rugby players speak out. 

NEW CALEDONIAN lock Sébastien Vahaamahina, 21, will play his fourth rugby test for France in the start of the the three-match series against the New Zealand All Blacks at Auckland's Eden Park on Saturday.

Sébastien Vahaamahina ... test debut.

The Perpignan player toured Argentina last year but this is his first run-on test.

Bordeaux-Bègles fly-half Camille Lopez - who almost singlehandedly demolished European champions Toulouse 41-0 in February will also make his test debut.

Coach Philippe Saint-André has also handed Perpignan wing Adrien Planté his first international start while on the other wing Maxime Médard returns to win his 33rd cap, almost four years to the day since scoring the winning try in Dunedin - the last time France beat the All Blacks in New Zealand.

Les Bleus will have a fresh faced half-back pairing as Racing Metro scrum-half Maxime Machenaud joins Lopez in the starting XV. Both are just 24.

Luc Ducalcon is at tighthead prop in the absence of stalwart Nicolas Mas, who is still recovering from injury.

Kiwi media crusade against Les Bleus

AFTER the All Blacks’ achievement of finally winning the World Rugby Cup against a French revolution 8-7 last weekend after 24 years of self-absorbed angst, a sour mood has overtaken the post-final wave of euphoria. And the New Zealand media is deservedly taking the flak for it – especially the New Zealand Herald. In the eyes of many French rugby scribes, the Herald and other media have been waging a vengeful and vindictive smear campaign against France, Les Bleus and coach Marc Lièvremont who has now bowed out from his four-year tenure. The relentless and bitter campaign has been obvious to anybody following the relationship between NZ and French rugby. Of course, it has nothing to do with the embarrassing losses in 1999 and 2007 – or being within a whisker of pulling off perhaps the greatest humiliation of all, a Gallic sacking of the Mt Eden fortress and snatching of the World Cup from under our noses. As Ross Hastie noted in Planet Rugby:

The Fédération Française de Rugby did Lièvremont a massive disservice by naming his successor, another former Bleu, Philippe Saint-André, before the team had even left for New Zealand. As a result, journalists with a score to settle were giving free rein to fire away while the players were given licence to ignore what they didn't want hear from their boss.

But to the credit of the Herald, it has actually run a story highlighting French media criticism aimed at itself. Along with other critical accounts of the NZ media bias, this balanced commentary by Gordon Campbell is refreshing:

RWC Fallout - By Gordon Campbell

One of the rationales for the massive expenditure on the Rugby World Cup – at a time when for instance, every hospital in the country is being run into the ground – is that the tournament is serving as a valuable showcase for New Zealand to the world. Well, if that is the case, could Keith Quinn and his anonymous sources in the All Black camp please shut the f***up with their campaign to vilify the French team?

The rest of the world admired the French efforts in the final. The efforts being made to the contrary are only underlining to the world – and to the other 50 percent of New Zealanders who are not obsessed with rugby – that the All Blacks and their fans can be just as ugly and graceless in victory, as they are in defeat.

About this alleged eye gouging by the French centre Aurelien Rougerie ….no one laid an official complaint that an eye gouging occurred. The player allegedly gouged – Richie McCaw – is not saying that he was deliberately eye gouged. In fact, in the Guardian, McCaw said this about French captain Thierry Dusautoir:

Dusautoir showed what he was made of last night. Every time I have played against him he has had one hell of a game. He has been around a long time and he inspires his team by the way he plays.

That surely, should be the end of it. If you’ve got the evidence, you front up. Instead, some anonymous elements within the All Blacks camp have taken the back door route – they’ve avoided fronting up, while using Keith Quinn as a conduit for allegations of foul play. The attempt to smear Dusautoir has been particularly contemptible, and looks like petulance at him being named man of the match, and IRB player of the year.

Apparently Dusautoir’s sin was that he was “close” to the incident, and did nothing about it. Yep, three minutes before the end of a RWC final, Dusautoir has an over-riding obligation to be offering solicitous comfort to Richie McCaw. Good grief. If McCaw got an eye injury this was no less accidental – and did far less lasting damage – than McCaw’s knee to the face of French flyhalf Morgan Parra [which broke his nose – Café Pacific], far earlier in the game.

According to the French, their team members felt unable to leave their hotel on the night of the victory for fear of being attacked by celebrating All Black fans. (What would have happened to them if the French had won doesn’t bear thinking about.) Later, a photographer harassed the team at a private function and after being ejected tried to shoot photos through the restaurant window – and all the subsequent headlines were about the angry response to this cretin by one French player. Right.

We have lavished millions on this RWC – largely to the benefit of a fortunate few bar owners and hoteliers. No doubt, some business advantages will occur downstream in the wake of this tournament – but you can bet that RWC Minister Murray McCully won’t be ordering an opportunity cost analysis on whether this huge RWC spend-up really was the most effective way of promoting New Zealand as a business and tourism destination.

Footnote: The New Zealand Herald, which prominently featured the Quinn allegations also carried a highly selective story headlined “World Media Reacts : NZ Nailed It” that began with a largely positive report from the Guardian’s Robert Kitson. To get to Kitson, the Herald had to ignore the article in the same issue by the Guardian’s chief sports writer Richard Williams. For the record, here’s what Williams said:

All New Zealand did was win, which was presumably all they wanted to do in order to end their famous 24-year drought. They had hosted the tournament beautifully but when it came to the showdown they derived disproportionate benefit from home advantage, including a few free gifts from a referee who spent the first half infuriating even neutrals by giving virtually every decision to the men in black.

France’s fans were unable to make themselves heard in a stadium draped in black but their team’s display was full of spirit, generosity, creativity and adventure… and were hugely unfortunate not to become the first side from their nation to capture the Webb Ellis Cup.

The All Blacks were grim, pragmatic and joyless: a caricature of a stereotype. Nothing they did in the 80 minutes truly illuminated the game. Their try was a gimme, tinged with a hint of obstruction, and they never came close to scoring another…"I’m tremendously sad but tremendously proud, too,” [coach Marc Lièvremont] said during a dignified post-match press conference. He made no reference to the collision between Richie McCaw’s knee and the temple of Morgan Parra in the 11th minute, which forced the early removal of France’s own influential flyhalf.

For the Guardian’s overview article on how New Zealand had successfully hosted the tournament, go here. It ends with this paragraph, which should also be kept in mind alongside the hosannas of praise for our hosting of the RWC, when assessing the tournament’s tourism legacy:

Abiding memory : A nation so immersed in their sport that it was possible to watch rugby 24 hours a day even if the down side was trying to dodge questions about England in every bar and restaurant visited. It was almost possible to forget the rip-off prices. Almost.

• Four minutes and three touches that cost France
• The magic of being there

Rugby World Cup: France denied by a fate that once defied New Zealand

Self-taught videographer Jared Brandon says he is "blown away" by the success of his video on the World Cup final - the agony and the ecstasy as NZ defeats France 8-7.  Vimeo link to Jared's video.

Decisions went against France, the better side, in the final – just as they did for the All Blacks in 2007

By Paul Rees on The Guardian's SportBlog

DIMITRI YACHVILI summed up 45 days of Rugby World Cup 2011 when asked a few hours after the All Blacks had lifted the Webb Ellis Cup whether he thought the better team had lost the final.

The France scrum-half had predicted after the All Blacks had convincingly beaten France in the group stage that the two sides would meet again in the final. "We had the luck against Wales in the semi-final, but not tonight. The referee did not want us to win but you have to say that the best team in the tournament won."

France had a legitimate grievance with referee Craig Joubert and his two assistants, just as New Zealand had with Wayne Barnes and his two touch judges in the 2007 quarter-final in Cardiff. The decisions went the way of the hosts. What goes around comes around, as it is said, which is bad news for those countries that will never be able to stage the tournament.

France were outstanding in defeat, led by the indomitable Thierry Dusautoir and Imanol Harinordoquy, two players who unquestionably deserved to be in the final. The All Blacks had the ideal start, scoring a try after 12 minutes, but as Piri Weepu wasted penalty opportunities, a combination of nerves and resolute opponents reduced New Zealand to virtual all-out defence.

Much had been made of the All Blacks' determination to learn from their failed campaigns of 2003 and 2007 but France also had players who had missed out in those years, even though it passed without comment in the build-up. Their resolve was as hard as New Zealand's, but their quest for the World Cup had not become an obsession and the final was an occasion to enjoy rather than endure.

Veterans took the edge
Veterans like Nicolas Mas, Lionel Nallet, Yachvili and Aurélien Rougerie all got the better of their opposite numbers and France's loose trio was the more effective back row unit. The All Blacks had to defend a one-point lead for 32 minutes, and if Richie McCaw's influence as an open-side was compromised by the foot injury that has plagued him for most of the tournament, his fighting spirit ensured there was no choking this time.

The All Blacks will go to England (and maybe Wales) in 2015 with, as the chief executive of the New Zealand Rugby Union Steve Tew put it, King Kong off their backs, even if they still have to win the World Cup on foreign soil. There was a fear that this tournament would fail because New Zealanders, so desperate for an end to 20 years of World Cup heartache, would be too wrapped up in their own obsession to embrace 19 visiting teams and more than 100,000 supporters.

From the moment that Tonga arrived in Auckland and were welcomed by some 10,000 supporters, that concern melted away. Everyone knew here what the World Cup meant: inclusiveness. Those who were around in 1987 recalled an inaugural event that was underwhelming, shared as it was with Australia. A crowd of some 20,000 turned up for the opening match at Eden Park between the All Blacks and Italy, media interest was muted and it hardly sparked a tourist boom.

The Rugby World Cup is now big business but New Zealanders also grasped that rugby union being their best export, this was a chance to showcase a country that is, for most of the major rugby playing nations, on the other side of the world. And they did it superbly.

The France hooker Dimitri Szarzewski may not have been allowed to take his young children on to the Eden Park pitch after the semi-final against Wales and one of Graham Henry's sons had the police called when he tried to join his father on the field after Sunday's trophy presentation, but this has been a tournament when the officious have taken a holiday.

Volunteer army
An army of 6,500 volunteers, clad in aquamarine World Cup jackets, has been on call around the two islands to help visitors at airports, in towns and cities and in and around the stadia. Some gave up their holiday entitlement to do the unpaid work and they all contributed richly to the undoubted success of the tournament, something for England to take on board in 2015.

Using choirs to lead the singing of the national anthems was another idea that worked perfectly. New Zealand has done the little things well, making the fears of some on the International Rugby Board that it was not just a financial mistake to bring the tournament here unfounded. The only question is when – not if – it will return.

The colour was provided in the group stage. The tier two and three nations complained, rightly, about the short turnovers they had to endure between matches, something that will change in 2015, if only because the broadcasters like the idea of the top countries playing in midweek, but they all had their moments, even Namibia who showed flashes in their opening match against Fiji.

The schedule became too much for most of them, but Russia continued attacking to the end, becoming the first side since Wales in 1987 to score three tries against Australia in the World Cup. They did not have a line-out and their defence was not the tightest, but they looked to move the ball.

Romania had one of the best scrums in the tournament, Japan were dangerous in broken play, Canada and the United States were organised and Georgia showed glimpses of life beyond a 10-man game.

Fiji disappointing
Fiji were a disappointment, politics blighting their campaign, but Tonga defeated France and Samoa might have made the quarter-finals. Their Gloucester centre, Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, twittered against any perceived slight, and more, but at least one of his complaints may have been taken on board by the International Rugby Board.

He was angry that Samoa's final group match against South Africa was refereed by a Welshman, Nigel Owens. It was a game that was likely to have a bearing on Wales's progress to the quarter-finals and the fuming Sapolu felt that nationality should have been taken into account when the appointment was made. Italy had the same grievance in their penultimate group game against the United States, which was refereed by George Clancy of Ireland, the Azzurri's final opponents.

The International Rugby Board is considering shaking up the process of appointing referees. The power currently lies with a committee which is chaired by a Welshman, David Pickering, but there is a proposal to achieve greater transparency by having an independent chairman.

The knockout stage gripped without stimulating. England were sent home early having been fortunate to beat both Argentina and Scotland, whose ambition to play expansive rugby was not matched by their ability to do so; Ireland failed to take advantage of their epic victory over Australia and fell to Wales; age caught up with South Africa and the Pumas took it to the All Blacks.

The semi-finals and final yielded a mere four tries, but they were not a repeat of the kicking contests of 2007. The intensity was at times frightening and rugby union at the top level has become a place where footballing skill shows itself infrequently. The stand-out players in the tournament were mostly sevens and eights reflecting the way the breakdown has come to dominate the game.

Rightful winners
New Zealand were the rightful winners, unbeaten throughout and overcoming the loss of their leading back, Dan Carter, in the group stage. With McCaw limping through the knockout stage, they looked vulnerable.

Four years ago they may have cracked, but by persevering with the coaching team that took them to the 2007 World Cup, they had insured themselves with experience. And that, in the final reckoning, is what helped them in the final minutes when they were one kick away from another World Cup inquest.

France had felt guided by destiny all tournament, a notion quickly disabused on Sunday by some of the decisions that went against them, but fate, in exactly the same manner it defied them in 2007, was with the All Blacks.

Graham Henry, the redeemer redeemed.