France U20 player ratings vs New Zealand | World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026

France and New Zealand are familiar semi-final opponents at the World Rugby Junior World Championship and for long periods they cancelled each other out at the Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi.

After an error-prone first half, Les Bleuets held a 14-12 half-time lead and the nip-and-tuck nature of the match continued throughout the second half with extra-time looking a real possibility.

However, after struggling to find their groove in attack, France produced what we all know they can produce with ball in hand and broke New Zealand hearts with a try from deep five minutes from time giving them a 26-22 win.

1. Matheo Frisach – 7.5
A peroxide died-in-the-wool scrummager who put Ethan Webber under enormous pressure. Forced his opposite man to concede three scrum penalties, and also put himself about in defence in the 45 minutes he was on the pitch, as well as grabbing France’s first try from close range.

2. Gabin Garault – 8
If it was a coin toss between him and Frisach as to who got the ball down for Les Bleuets’ first score, there was no disputing Garault was responsible for France’s second try from their tried-and-trusted maul weapon, which took his try tally for the tournament to five. Also flawless with his lineout throwing and forced a brilliant turnover penalty on stroke of half-time to ensure France went into the sheds two points in front.

3. Alexandre Langlois – 6
Held his side of the scrum up well enough but didn’t carry the ball once and only made seven tackles.

4. Baptiste Veschambre – 6
Straight on the ball at the start of the second half to hold David Lewai up and force a maul. Up until then, he’d taken the phrsase ‘doing unseen work’ to new levels.

5. Romeo Bonnard Martin – 6
A towering lineout presence with seven catches but was also guilty of giving away a couple of penalties.

6. Raphael Audebert – 7
Got through a tonne of work and was one of the top tacklers in the match.

7. Lucas Andjisseramatchi (capt) – 7
Maybe didn’t hit the heights of previous rounds but was a willing carrier throughout and nailed New Zealand No.8 Patrick Mauga in one memorable tackle.

8. Elyjah Ibsaiene – 5
Made some good dents as a ball carrier but his hands let him down on occasions, including a woeful pass into touch which ruined a good attacking opportunity in the New Zealand 22. Got hooked within seven minutes of the restart.

9. Baptiste Tilloles – 5
Struggled to control the game at the base of the scrum and barely offered any threat with ball in hand. Even his most positive involvement, a darting run with 57 minutes gone, nearly turned into disaster. Having spurned a two-on-one, the scrum-half’s kick ahead was blocked and the Baby Blacks nearly scored from the ensuing counterattack. On this evidence, Antoine Dupont, he is not.

10. Luka Keletaona – 5
A mixed bag from the fly-half with a languid kicking style. Executed some good touchfinders and a cute short kick-off deserved better, but also made some poor decisions, including an overcooked crossfield kick in the New Zealand 22, when he should have put the ball through the hands. While he converted both tries, Keletaona missed a relatively straightforward penalty seven minutes into the second half, and some of his passes were far from sympathetic.

11. Melvyn Rates – 8
Instigated the match-winning try with a brilliant break from deep. Had been a willing goal line defender and regularly came off his wing looking for work up until that point.

12. Bastien Rasal – 7.5
If Rasal lived by a 12th commandment, it would be ‘thou shall not pass’. Put in an excellent shift in defence with huge tackle numbers that any back-row forward would be proud of.

13. Adrien Drault – 7
Like Rasal, Drault had very few chances to make an impression in attack but was in the right place at the right time to finish off a typically fluent French counterttack from deep to win his side the game.

14. Paul Cellio Zwiler – 6
Had a nightmare start with an early knock-on followed by two penalties. However, he burst into life near the end of the first quarter, doing his opposite man on the outside with a swivel of the hips and a burst of pace. Sadly, he got very few opportunities to open his legs after that.

15. Axel Guillaud – 6
Such a balanced runner but made a negligible impact in attack. Best moment was when he put in a really well-timed hit on New Zealand scrum-half Charlie Sinton.

Replacements – 5
Out-performed by the New Zealand bench for the most part, but the not-so-bon squad came good in the end, with Diego Jurd’s slide rule kick-to-the-corner leading to another maul try, this time for replacement hooker Elis Masi.