New Zealand v France Live

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New Zealand will take on France in the final of the Rugby World Cup this year. The game will be played at the eden park in Auckland. The match will start on Sunday, October 23, 2011 and will begin at 2100 local time.

The two sides have played in 50 games so far, with New Zealand winning 37 of them. This includes a win in the group stage of the tournament this year, which the Kiwis won 37-17. That win apart, the two sides have won two games each in previous tournaments and that should make things interesting.

Despite being the fag end of the tournament, there were no injuries to report for both the sides. Both the teams, France and New Zealand will go into the game with a similar 15 that had won the semi-finals, but it will be a change to the reserves bench that will probably be the difference. Loose forward Adam Thomson will play for the All Blacks in place of Victor Vito.

France will have made changes to the reserves side but they will hope that the All Blacks don’t run away with the game by the time the reserves come on to the field.

New Zealand have entered the final by defeating Tonga 41-10 in the first game, followed by wins over Japan 83-7, France 37-17 and Canada 79-15 in the group stage of the competition. Then, they beat Argentina 33-10 in an easy quarter-final game before crushing Australia 20-6 in the semi-final.

France started off with a win over Japan 47-21, Canada 46-19 before going down in two successive games in the pool stage, earning the wrath of the media. New Zealand beat them 17-37 before they lost a shocker to Tonga 14-19. Then, they were involved in two close games, overcoming England 19-12 and Wales 9-8 in the last four match.

New Zealand: 1. Tony Woodcock, 2. Keven Mealamu, 3. Owen Franks, 4. Sam Whitelock, 5. Brad Thorn, 6. Jerome Kaino, 7. Richie McCaw (capt), 8. Kieran Read, 9. Piri Weepu, 10. Aaron Cruden, 11. Richard Kahui, 12. Ma’a Nonu, 13. Conrad Smith, 14. Cory Jane, 15. Israel Dagg.

Reserves: 16. Andrew Hore, 17. Ben Franks, 18. Ali Williams, 19. Adam Thomson, 20. Andy Ellis, 21. Stephen Donald, 22. Sonny Bill Williams.

France: 1. Jean-Baptiste Poux, 2. William Servat, 3. Nicolas Mas, 4. Pascal Pape, 5. Lionel Nallet, 6. Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 7. Julien Bonnaire, 8. Imanol Harinordoquy, 9. Dimitri Yachvili, 10. Morgan Parra, 11. Alexis Palisson, 12. Maxime Mermoz, 13. Aurelien Rougerie, 14. Vincent Clerc, 15. Maxime Medard.

Reserves: 16. Dimitri Szarzewski, 17. Fabien Barcella, 18. Julien Pierre, 19. Fulgence Ouedraogo, 20. Jean-Marc Doussain, 21. Francois Trinh-Duc, 22. Damien Traille.

REFEREE: Craig Joubert (South Africa).

Posted: 24th September 2011

The 25^th game of the Rugby World Cup 2011 will see the New Zealand side take on France at the Eden Park in Auckland. This is a group A game and one that will see the winner end up on the first place.

However, it will be interesting to see how the two teams go given the prowess that both have. Overall, the Kiwis are much better than their opposition but it must be said that they have lost two of the four games that they have played against France in the time between 2007 and 2011. Not only that, the two teams have played four times in World Cup rugby and the results are tied at two games apiece.

The more interesting bit is that the buzz in the New Zealand media is that the French side has named a secondary side to go against the New Zealand side so that they don’t end up on the top of the group. That could push them into playing one of Australia or South Africa in the semi finals and cause issues for the French side.

However, the French manager Marc Lievremont has already said that the reports were baseless and could only motivate the team into performing well. There have also been talks from the French players about how the New Zealand side could end up choking in this game and that would mean they may even lose to france because of this issue.

Richie McCaw will be playing his 100^th Test for New Zealand to become the first ever from his country to do so, while Dan Carter returns from injury as well. France will have Dimitri Yachvili and Morgan Parra playing, with Parra at fly-half.

TEAMS:

France: 1. Jean-Baptiste Poux, 2. Dimitri Szarzewski, 3. Luc Ducalcon, 4. Pascal Pape, 5. Lionel Nallet, 6. Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 7. Julien Bonnaire, 8. Louis Picamoles, 9. Dimitri Yachvili, 10. Morgan Parra, 11. Maxime Medard, 12. Maxime Mermoz, 13. Aurelien Rougerie, 14. Vincent Clerc, 15. Damien Traille.

Reserves: 16. William Servat, 17. Fabien Barcella, 18. Julien Pierre, 19. Imanol Harinordoquy, 20. Francois Trinh-Duc, 21. Fabrice Estebanez, 22. Cedric Heymans.

New Zealand: 1. Tony Woodcock, 2. Keven Mealamu, 3. Owen Franks, 4. Brad Thorn, 5. Sam Whitelock, 6. Jerome Kaino, 7. Richie McCaw (capt), 8. Adam Thomson, 9. Piri Weepu, 10. Daniel Carter, 11. Richard Kahui, 12. Ma'a Nonu, 13. Conrad Smith, 14. Cory Jane, 15. Israel Dagg.

Reserves: 16. Andrew Hore, 17. Ben Franks, 18. Ali Williams, 19. Anthony Boric, 20. Andy Ellis, 21. Colin Slade, 22. Sonny Bill Williams.