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Thursday

12:00

Autumn Nations Series

‘You reap what you sow’: Justin Marshall fires fresh shot at France

By Ned Lester

25 days ago

France's fly-half #10 Romain Ntamack applauds at the end of the Autumn Nations Series international rugby union test match between France and South Africa at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris' suburb, on November 8, 2025. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP) (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)

French rugby fans will receive zero sympathy from former All Black Justin Marshall for their side’s losing streak, which was extended at the hands of South Africa over the weekend.

Marshall, who was a vocal critic of France sending a “B team” to New Zealand to face the All Blacks in July, redirected his attention to France following their latest defeat and took fans to task for the backlash he received over his criticisms earlier in the year.

For the 81-Test All Black, the “disrespect” of the July Test window, and therefore the 2025 All Blacks, has been punished by the resounding loss to a 14-man Springboks in Paris.

“Can I please, for the keyboard warriors, the Frenchies out there who love me so much, particularly in the middle part of the year, just say that you reap what you sow,” he said on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast this week.

“You send a B team out to New Zealand, and yes, it was a B team because it was nothing like the team that you put out at the weekend… the superstars were all back. You lost three Test matches there, now you’ve lost the fourth on the bounce, and you’re plummeting down the world rankings.

“In December, the World Cup draw comes out. All of a sudden, instead of you being able to be one or two in the world and you can get the pick of the pools, and perhaps get a couple of minnows in your group, you might find yourself in the situation where you’re going into a pool of death that you don’t want to be in.

“At your peril, do you not respect the international rugby window because it affects your world ranking.”

France sit fifth in the world rankings, with a comfortable five-point advantage over seventh-placed Australia, who, as it stands, will be the first of the second band of teams in the Rugby World Cup pools.

France’s ability to reach greater heights in the global standings has always been hindered by its inability to field top-tier talent in the July window, so soon after the Top 14 final. The French Rugby Federation, in alignment with World Rugby’s welfare guidance, imposes a 2000-minute season limit to protect its players.

The 26 rounds of Top 14 action, additional Champions Cup and finals games, as well as Six Nations fixtures, total 3,440 minutes of potential game time before the July Test window arrives.

Marshall’s criticism earlier in the year was that the club game in France was overemphasised at the expense of the Test arena.

“For a very long period of time, the French have been disrespecting the international window,” he said on the same podcast ahead of the July series in New Zealand.

“They are not bringing their best players on tours, which is not respectful for our country because we want to see their best players playing here.

“They overemphasise their club situation over there, and the players play too many minutes.

“They say: ‘Players have just played a final, we’ve played too many minutes’. Sure, but that’s because you have got your window for the entire calendar year out of kilter, because you now don’t have the ability to let those international players play international rugby, because you’re not resting them at the right times of the year.

“You’re disrespecting the window that everybody else buys into. Everybody else in the world does not send B teams out; they send their top players on their tours.”

Comments

41 Comments

BleedRed&Black 24 days ago

I should be a fan of Marshall as a commentator, given he is a Crusaders great and a world class All Black, but he can be astoundingly ignorant, as his initial comment reveals. As others have described, France is in the top six atm, will remain in the top six until the RWC draw, so there is no possibility of them drawing the Springboks or the All Blacks etc. The particular danger is that they will draw Australia, whose wildly inconsistent performances have put them in the 2nd band, or Scotland, but those are dangers all first band teams face.

Marshall is also wrong about France in test rugby, particularly in world cups. They can’t reap what they sow because they have no idea what they are sowing. France struggle or lose at world cups, stagger into the quarters, often get a really lucky draw, struggle against lesser teams in a knockout game, or go full shapeshifter and beat a better team. Frequently the All Blacks. Then fail in their next game, which is often the final. France often lose when they are well prepared, 2023, and often win when they are in chaos, 2011. The normal rules of sporting physics do not apply to France at test level. Though, thankfully, they always lose in the end.

The one thing that Marshall is right about is French rugby as a whole treating test rugby with contempt. Victory for France in RWC 2027 will be treated as a justification of every abuse the Top 14 has inflicted on rugby as a whole and test rugby in particular. Given the choice between a Springbok threepeat or a French win, I choose the Boks. Though hopefully It will never come to that. I mean, imagine supporting the Boks against France in the RWC final...

MichaelT4 25 days ago

I think a big issue with the French is how the clubs have gone back to signing non-French players again. Heading towards the last world cup there seemed to be a big focus on home-grown, but since then, its back to buying up talent from abroad.

The best player in the league is not French. His brother has just been another big signing on what must be a load of money to walk away from his Saracens contract and the England contract.

On Saturday I looked at the score board at around 60 mins and was surprised France were only ahead by a point. They then looked very unfit and their backs blunt. Considering the amount of stoppages' - no rugby match should take 2 hours from start to finish - the energy was way down from France.

It will be interesting to see how they play against Fiji at the weekend. Fortunately for them they are playing Australia last who will probably punch themselves out against Ireland this week (and still lose) and have nothing left.

Dave Didley 25 days ago

Justin goes hard!

J Marc 25 days ago

He is paid for the buzz and he is just doing his job. And it works…

JJ 25 days ago

Actually england sent a ‘B’ team to Argentina and won 2-0. With the B&I Lions on tour, most of the 6Nations had depleted teams on tour. Will Marshy say anything when New Zealand put out a ‘B’ team against Wales? No, he’ll claim it’s player development.

LS 24 days ago

Ummm… Wales happen to be 12th in the world rankings… so yeh, I'd imagine Razor will send a B team there, not just for player development, but also to remove risk of injury for the top players.

JD 25 days ago

The two situations are not comparable. When you go on a 3 test match tour you send your best, not some half baked experimental mob. Marshy is 100% correct.

S R 25 days ago

I don't get it. England tour Argentina quite frequently and use it as a chance to blood new players and Argentina never claim disrespect. NZ are quite fond of this “disrespecting us” shtick from smiling sardonically at the haka to refusing to show fear while some Maori fella threatens to slit your throat. While we're on the subject talk to a New Zealander about the respect they have for non rugby playing Maoris and you'll be surprised…or maybe not. Give it a rest, Justin.

Andrew Nichols 24 days ago

Non rugby playing maori? What are you on about?

Hammer Head 25 days ago

The reasons related to the B-team fiasco have been ventilated enough. Unless we start drawing pictures for people to follow - saying “I told you so” is pointless.

For context: the French went toe-to-toe with the Boks for 60 mins. And for those 60 mins looked better than most other teams out there.

Admittedly, they looked like a team that hadn't trained enough. Their fitness let them down as far as I am concerned.

They were missing a few key players (everyone does from time to time) and a few areas of their game lacked bite.

1. Ntamack was anonymous. He fielded a kick in the final 20 minutes of the game and I genuinely forgot he was still playing in this game. What is his role if Ramos is running the show?

2. The French midfield was anonymous. Ramos seemed to be the only spark in their attack. And of course their wingers looked exceptional when they got the ball. Danger signs for everyone.

Handling errors really let them down - a sure sign of rust.

3. The French put out a really inexperienced front row agains the Boks. What else was going to happen come scrum time?

All of the above considered - the outcome seems inevitable, but also a valuable learning curve for Galthie and the team. Losing this test was not the end of the world.

The French have paid the price for development of the team. And will peak at the appropriate time.

JS 25 days ago

Galthie hasn’t managed the transition well with players like Ollivon, Aldritt and Woki ditched and thrown youngsters like Tixeron jegou auradoua guillard in a completely haphazard fashion. This French team should be doing much better. Now they’re back in this weekend.

Bamba went well in Argentina 2 summers ago, ditched for Colombe who somehow is massive prop, can’t scrummage and walks around missing tackles. He was a genuine embarrassment in the second test v ABs, disgracefully unfit. Now not in the mix whilst the French scrum was chewed up by the boks when Bamba (could have had another half a dozen tests of international experience instead of slimani and Colombe and is a more solid tight head option) and would have been in a position to provide a more solid TH option.

All blacks have nurtured and developed Newell and Williams and both have become excellent international props. England trying to do the same with Heyes and Asher.

Final gripe with the French Federation. If you know you’re sending a developmental team to NZ, do not play SA in your first game after one week of training! Crazy decision.

Matt Perry 25 days ago

Just to correct a couple of pieces of bollocks…

A) That B-team came within a score of beating the ABs in the first test, which is a bit embarrassing no?

B) It doesn't matter if you're ranked first or sixth; you're in band one either way and there's no impact on the draw.

TokoRFC 25 days ago

Are the pool just drawn out of a hat for each band? Or are the pools made up based on rankings with 1st and 7th, 2nd and 8th, 3rd and 9th etc?

IB 25 days ago

It is a sad day if a rugby nation is proud of one test in three within a score. The rest of the tour the ABs were all over France. Proud countries like SA and NZ would have been in morning with such results. No France, change your systems and become a force in world rugby.

Ninjin 25 days ago

France went to Nz and gave a few players a go. Yes they lost but they also answered a few questions about France and asked a few questions about Nz. They lost against the Springboks with all the advantage they could get while not playing too badly in doing so. Imho hyping of France and Ireland should stop. Results are all that matter and they are not comming atm. Nz are still a top 2 side way ahead of the rest below them. Are French players better than Nz players? What does the results say. Shout out to the Six nations tourney. Never invite the Sprinboks to join! Unless you really want all the silverware to stay in the Sh.

GrandDisse 24 days ago

Not sure having 2 weeks preparation against a team out of 4 months of playing together is “all the advantage they could get”.

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