Rugby World Cup Blog

Weak defense lead to France beating the All Blacks in their own back yard on the weekend. The French forwards were also very aware of the fact that the All Blacks had not dealt with rolling mauls during the Super 14 and used this to get their backs going on the front foot. The French also managed to dominate the All Black forwards at the break down and caused havoc for them all night.

The tactical kicking of the All Blacks was also a concern and Wayne Smith said himself at half time that the AB’s were kicking the ball too far and not getting any good chasers to put pressure onto the French. Once again proving the fact that a kick in Rugby is only as good as its chase. However for me the biggest weakness that was shown by the AB’s was the feeble tackling. Francois Trinh-Duc managed to bounce off 4 tackles before he crossed the try line.

Have a look at the Highlights Video below. Congrats France!