LONG READ Another emotional chapter is about to be written in the history of New Zealand v France

When it is France versus New Zealand, you can be sure of one thing: it will always be emotional. It is the contest which has produced some of the most rousing games in history, amateur or professional. The prospect of facing the All Blacks has stirred the beauty and the beast in the French rugby psyche in equal measure.

Who can forget the infamous ‘Battle of Nantes’ in 1986, one short year before the inaugural World Cup in Australia? According to investigative journalist Pierre Ballester in his 2015 book Rugby à Charges, l’enquête choc, the French players emerged from the tunnel into the sunlight at Le Stade de la Beaujoire stoked by stimulants. Ballester quoted France’s team doctor Jacques Mombet in support of his theory: “They each had their little pill in front of their plates for the meal before the match. The All Blacks realised their opponents, unrecognisable from the previous week, were loaded.”

New Zealand skipper Buck Shelford was knocked senseless during that game, suffering a large tear to his scrotum and losing four of his front teeth before being finally forced off the pitch by a concussion in the second half. If that was typical of a lawless era in rugby union, it also epitomised the strength of emotion the fixture has engendered.

Back in 1994, the same intensity of feeling had been put to far better aesthetic use, with Les Bleus scoring one of the great tries in the dying embers of the series to nail down a 2-0 triumph. A 1986 Voir Rouge pact with the devil was replaced by Jouer aux Anges eight years later, with a heavenly try from the end of the Earth.

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) June 22, 2026

France have been New Zealand’s nemesis at the World Cup, overturning a 24-10 semi-final deficit in 1999 to score 33 of the next 40 points and stun one of the tournament favourites. They turned the odds on the casino in 2007 in a memorable two-point quarter-final win which led to young English referee Waynes Barnes being voted the ‘third most hated man in New Zealand’ – if you can believe it, just behind Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. They unpicked the belief of Kiwi rugby supporters to their last fraying nerves during an epic 8-7 loss in the final of the same tournament four years later.

For 40 years now France vs New Zealand has meant melodrama and controversy aplenty. It has always been larger than life, a Hindenburg on the rugby horizon, whether it was fuelled by amphetamines or boosted by the blessings of the beautiful game. Les Bleus have a habit, All Blacks supporters may say a nasty knack, of rolling back the stone and waking the dead when New Zealnad come to town.

Before the battle of Nantes, they had lost the first Test conclusively at Stade Municipal in Toulouse. Within the space of seven days Shelford saw these were not the same men at all: “I don’t think any team can come out to play like that after being beaten the way they were the week before. When they left their room, you could see their eyes were all glazed. It was a brutal match.”

In 1994, they left it to the very last play of the game to score a try from their own 22 and claim a historic series victory; in 1999 they had lost 54-7 only four months before overcoming the same opponents 43-31. Four years later, the players had launched a not-so-discreet rebellion against head coach Marc Lièvremont before the final, after losing 37-17 to the All Blacks at the pool stage.

As number eight Imanol Harinorduquy put it: “After the [pool stage] I did not attach too much importance to what Marc said. We had to free ourselves from his supervision.” Whether casual or bold, the French psyche has never been afraid of flouting authority, of kicking its supposed betters down the road like a can, and to the point of no return.

Vive la Révolution! Before the final, Les Bleus formed an arrowhead and advanced on the haka, crossing halfway and breaking the rules of etiquette. As The Guardian’s Richard Williams observed succinctly after the match, “they were nobody’s idea of losers. Even when the winners were queueing up to receive their medals, they were France – recalled to life, and you had to love them for it.”

The rivalry went off the boil on three tours of the Shaky Isles between 2013 and 2025, with either Top 14-inspired reticence in selection or All Black excellence on the pitch – depending on your point of view – claiming nine home wins on the bounce, with an average winning margin of 18 points. But now it is simmering again, and some volatile material is preparing to vaporise at the forthcoming Nations Championship on 4^th July.

The elimination of European champions Union Bordeaux-Bègles before the Top 14 play-offs will reignite passion aloud for a fixture which has been muted by the absence of the top French players for the past 13 years. Although men from the two league finalists, Toulouse and Montpellier, will be otherwise engaged on the weekend before the international schedule begins, there will be no fewer than 12 members of the triumphant UBB squad available for selection.

Louis Bielle-Biarrey will be absent – the most electrifying finisher on planet rugby is already sitting on 31 games of rugby and 2295 minutes played in 2025-26, well beyond Fabien Galthié’s welfare guidelines – but eight or nine UBB players are likely to start and France’s optimal club half-back pairing of Maxime Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert will be running the show.

For now, it will be the closest a neutral supporter can get to a battle between UBB and the Hurricanes, transposed to a war between the silver fern and the red cockerel. Make no mistake, the two top clubs in either hemisphere will form the backbone of their national teams in Christchurch next month. There are 11 Hurricanes in Dave Rennie’s recently-announced 34-man squad and as many Canes may run to the pitch at the start of proceedings for New Zealand as Girondins for France.

Between them, the two clubs won their grand finals north and south of the equator by a massive 76-point margin, 100-24. They are head-and-shoulders above the rest. Rennie was enthused by the prospect in a fortnight’s time after witnessing the Hurricanes’ runaway success against the Chiefs at the Cake Tin.

“We are rapt with this squad – players with the ability to bar up to the demands of Test footy but also play with optimism and brutality. We look forward to connecting on Wednesday in preparation for three big tests against France, Italy and Ireland.

“Special congratulations must go to our four uncapped players. These men have each had an outstanding Super Rugby season and fully deserve their place in the squad. It will be a massively proud time for their families, friends and team mates.”

Regular readers will know I have been pumping the tyres of the Canes’ midfield combination at nine, 10 and 12, and their front row as a unit, ever since March this year. There may well be seven Canes in those different areas forming part of the matchday 23 against Les Bleus, plus Peter Lakai in the back-row, possibly Billy Proctor at 13 and either Josh Moorby or Fehi Fineanganofo in the back three.

The inside three of Cam Roigard, Ruben Love and Jordie Barrett managed the gusty conditions in Wellington better, hands-down than three other All Blacks squad members for the Chiefs – Cortez Ratima, Damian McKenzie and Quinn Tupaea. McKenzie began the game with his first three kick-offs either rolling dead in the in-goal area [scrum to the Canes back on halfway] or going straight out of play on the right [penalty to the Canes], while the Canes’ passing in the more difficult of the two directions [left to right] was a model of control and efficiency. It started at centre-field scrums.

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) June 22, 2026

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) June 22, 2026

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) June 22, 2026

The long deliveries off the left hand of Barrett are bringing the outside backs into the game with momentum rather than stunting it, rifling through the Cake Tin winds with relentless accuracy. By the start of the second half, Barrett was reaching back into the Leinster playbook from the recent past and running a classic loop play, with Love creating room for Moorby to score in the right corner.

Even when the ball did not go straight to hand, left to right movements spelled death to the Chiefs as the second half unwound.

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) June 22, 2026

There will be more drama and probably, more controversy to add to the history of emotional theatre in games between New Zealand and France when the two nations clash again.

There will be no repeat of 2025, when Galthié was forced to pick an understrength ‘B’ team shorn of its stars for a full metal jacket tour of New Zealand. This time around, France will be reinforced by a round dozen of Les Bordelais who have hoisted the Champions Cup on two consecutive occasions.

The bulk of the two best club sides on either side of the equator will be going head-to-head and no quarter will be asked or given. It will not be the battle of Nantes replayed and there will not be any repeat of the arrowhead formation crossing halfway to meet the haka, but this iteration of Les Bleus will respect nothing and nobody on reputation alone. They will come to play their own brand of the beautiful game, and who knows, it could just be enough to claim their first win on New Zealand soil in 27 years.