Historic fixture awaits All Blacks but familiar France question persists

A new era for rugby in New Zealand and globally will begin next July, but for the All Blacks, one big, all-too-familiar question remains about their milestone match.

New Zealand will open their 2026 Test season by hosting France in Christchurch, a match that will double as the first Nations Championship Test ever played and the first Test in the new One New Zealand Stadium, aka Te Kaha.

While the Test ticks off two pieces of history at once, the level of opposition the Kiwis will face remains unclear, with France’s extended club season still a factor in player availability during the July Test window.

The squad that France coach Fabien Galthié selected for the 2025 New Zealand tour was often referred to as a ‘B team’ for its youth and the absence of many of the matchday 23 that won the Six Nations crown just months prior.

New Zealand Rugby confirmed, following the release of the All Blacks’ home schedule this week, that the availability of France’s stars remained unknown.

“We don’t know at the moment,” New Zealand Rugby’s general manager of professional rugby and performance, Chris Lendrum, told reporters on Tuesday. “The complications with the French club and international calendar still exist. That will be a decision for the French to make.

“What we do know is, like this year, it will be a very strong and competitive French team. They’ve got tremendous strength and depth in their country.

“The Top 14 is one of the most competitive leagues in the world, if not the most, just looking at week-to-week results. So, they’ll send a very, very good team down here.”

The city of Christchurch has been starved of Test rugby for much of the past 15 years, since a devastating earthquake rendered Lancaster Park unusable. Fans across the region have eagerly awaited the completion of the brand-new stadium at a new central city location, and Lendrum said it was an obvious choice for the season’s opening venue.

“All corners of the country are important to us, but the Canterbury region is a heartland for rugby, isn’t it? And through circumstances out of everybody’s control, they haven’t had the diet of international rugby and the opportunity to connect with the All Blacks that we would have liked them to have had over this period.

“So, we were always going back there this year. We’re excited about doing that. The city’s been fantastic partners, I know they’re really motivated to bring events back to Christchurch, and what better way to open the season than to go there. It’ll be really special for the team.”

While the stadium’s impending completion is sparking excitement among Canterbury’s rugby faithful, it has left Dunedin without an All Blacks or Black Ferns game in 2026.

Dunedin had hosted the opening All Blacks Test of the year each of the past two seasons, and Lendrum said it was unfortunate not to find time for another trip south in 2026.

“All calls are tough when hosting an occasion, and the key thing in 2026 is we actually have a relatively small slate of domestic internationals to allocate.

“We’ve obviously chosen to take two of those four games to Eden Park, and they’re games of real magnitude for the team and our fans. And also the opportunity to go back to Christchurch, which we haven’t been at consistently for 15 years. The opportunity to open our season at One New Zealand Stadium is massively exciting.

“We like to talk about Eden Park as a fortress, and the exciting thing about One New Zealand Stadium is the opportunity to start and build a legacy in that stadium for our teams in black, so we’re tremendously excited.”