With fewer than ten weeks until the beginning of the 8th installment of the Rugby World Cup, we turn the clock back to revisit ten of the greatest World Cup matches of all time.
In the second quarter final of the 2007 World Cup, a New Zealand side which had dominated the rugby world since 2005, and were favourites for the 2007 title, met Six Nations champions France in a highly anticipated clash between the strongest sides in their respective hemispheres.
RUGBY WORLD CUP CLASSICS: #9 2007 RWC New Zealand vs France
The All Blacks had made light work of their pool, racking up 46 tries and 309 points against Scotland, Italy, Romania and Portugal, while France had stuttered to a second placed finish behind Argentina after suffering a narrow opening round defeat to Los Pumas. It was clear that the Kiwis were firm favourites to progress beyond the quarter finals.
After one of the most rousing Hakas they’ve ever performed, the All Blacks were evidently at boiling point and were ready to dig their teeth into the slightly off-colour host nation.
Indeed, within 17 minutes, Richie McCaw’s men were 10-0 to the good after a penalty from Dan Carter and a well-worked try by Luke McAllister – it seemed for all the world as if New Zealand were going to continue their devastating pool stage form.
The teams went into the half-time break with the scoreboard reading 13-3 after a late exchange of penalties between Carter and Lionel Beauxis. France were dead, but they were not buried – they had survived wave after wave of New Zealand attack and were only two scores down. In McCaw’s autobiography, he states that with the late 3-pointer from Beauxis, France had “a sniff”.
According to the same book, the last words at the break were spoken by scrum-half Byron Kelleher, who had occupied the All Black 9 jersey since 1999:
“Come on guys, this is starting to feel like ‘99”.
Kelleher and Anton Oliver were the only two players in the 2007 squad who had featured in New Zealand’s thrilling upset at the hands of the French in the 1999 RWC semi final, and his remark seemed to unsettle his teammates.
Only fourteen minutes after Kelleher’s outburst, the scores were level at 13-13 and try-scorer McAllister was perching helplessly in the sin-bin. The French had ruthlessly exploited an overlap with Thierry Dusautoir scoring the try. Game on.
Soon after, Carter left the field with a leg injury, replaced by Nick Evans. Even so, minutes later and the All Blacks were back in front courtesy of a close range bulldoze by Rodney So’oialo. McAllister, the first-half hero, then became the second-half villain as he pushed a simple conversion wide of the upright. The score was 18-13, and the tension inside the Millennium Stadium was almost tangible.
The final, meaningful act of the match was a typical, expressive and clinical French attack. Damian Traille made the initial burst down the left flank in the 69th minute, before offloading it outside him to Frederick Michalak, who beat one tackler before finding Yannick Jauzion with an exquisite chest pass. He subsequently grounded the ball over the try-line. The ensuing conversion from Jean-Baptiste Ellisalde sent Les Bleus into raptures.
The French then choked the life out of the game and with the final score reading 18-20, the Kiwis were left heartbroken and without a World Cup victory since the inaugural tournament in 1987. France, however, marched on to a thoroughly deserved fourth consecutive World Cup semi-final.
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