France v All Blacks: Winners and losers as 'scarily good' rookie stars ...

Following France’s heroic 30-29 win over New Zealand, here are our winners and losers from a brilliant game at the Stade de France. 

Winners

Louis Bielle-Biarrey

Just seems to be getting better and better as the weeks go by, and the crazy thing is he’s only 22. He is scarily good in most areas of his game – to the point where he just left seasoned international players looking like amateurs at times. His electric pace makes him a real threat with ball-in-hand, but crucially it’s his rugby IQ that makes him the brilliant player he is. Simply a freak of the game, and will likely be the poster boy of French rugby if he carries on this way.

Cam Roigard

Nine has been a serious issue for the All Blacks this year, with Roigard injured for a large chunk of it, but he looked solid on his return to the starting line-up and proved why people believe he is the air to Aaron Smith. He added some serious fizz to their attack and gave Barrett quick ball to play with, and he also notched a deserved try. Things went downhill when he went off too.

Thomas Ramos

His selection at fly-half certainly caused a stir in the French camp this weekend, but he more than proved he was worthy of the jersey with an ice-cold performance off the tee. The Toulouse man contributed 15 of France’s 30 points – exactly half – from the tee, and he combined well with Antoine Dupont to get their attack moving.

Emmanuel Meafou

Imposing lock Emmanuel Meafou was immense in defence for France tonight, and just hit everything that came his way. He made an impressive 14 tackles across his shift and also led the way for dominant tackles with two. The Toulouse lock also chipped in with 5 carries too, which rounded off a really busy shift on the whole.

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Ardie Savea

There was a lot of talk surrounding his position change this week, with Wallace Sititi moving to eight, but he played just as well as usual. He was incredibly powerful in attack and made an impressive 15 carries across his game, notching 42 metres in the process. His work in the tight is so important to the way New Zealand want to play, and despite the result, he should be very happy with his performance.

New Zealand front-row

The All Blacks are blessed with some riches in the front-row, but my word they were impressive today. Tamaiti Williams, Codie Taylor and Tyrel Lomax have formed a deadly unit in the scrum, and despite the heavy-duty French pack, they had the better of them in the scrum and around the park too. It was really pleasing to see them stick to their fundamental skills – scrummaging and tackling – but yet add in the handling skills required of the modern-day front-row.

Romain Buros

Just looked really comfortable at this level, which is potentially the greatest compliment you can give to a Test debutant. The Bordeaux flier notched a superb try early doors and overall added a new dynamic to this French side that we haven’t seen for a while. He could easily be their new number 15 for some time now, given just how well he took to life at this level.

Peter Lakai

Another debutant who excelled was Peter Lakai, who was thrown right into the deep-end early doors but passed that test with flying colours. He got himself a lovely maiden try, but overall he complimented the work of Savea and the rest of the All Blacks squad well. There is certainly a space in that back-row, given Samipeni Finau’s head-knock, and he’s done his chances of starting next weekend no harm at all.

France

This might seem obvious, maybe even silly, but France are clearly the big winner this weekend. 2024 has been a tough year for Les Bleus; the Six Nations didn’t quite go to plan and off-field issues during their summer tour added into that as well, but this felt like the old France, the France we’ve come to know and love. They also didn’t have it their own way, especially in the first-half, but when they turned it on they looked properly good. Rugby needs a strong France team, and tonight showed they are getting back to that. Also, they made it three on the spin against the All Blacks, a feat they’ve not done since 1994/1995!

Losers

Jordie Barrett

An unfortunate night for the Leinster-bound back. He was taken off early with a head knock, and never returned to the field. Anton Lienert-Brown came on in his place and did a decent job.

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Samipeni Finau

Likewise for back-rower Samipeni Finau, who was also taken off early into the game. This is especially annoying for the 25-year-old too, considering the stellar showing from young debutant Peter Lakai, who came on in his place. You felt this game was where Finau could have made a serious claim for the number six jersey for the All Blacks, but that looks to have gone again.

Gregory Alldritt

Wasn’t his best outing in a French jersey, unfortunately, as he was well-managed by his All Blacks counterparts. Aldritt is an excellent ball-carrier and has played a vital role in France’s consistent ability to smash through the gainline, but tonight he just wasn’t able to put his usual stamp on the game. He still chipped in with an impressive 16 tackles though, to his credit.

Tevita Tatafu

Another one who was taken off early on with a head knock, and like the rest he never returned to action. A real shame, considering he gave a good account of himself against Japan last weekend.

Georges-Henri Colombe

From one French tighthead to the other now, but this is for a different reason. Colombe had a really tough time of it in the scrum against a revved-up All Blacks pack, and this allowed them to get the better of things up front. France’s game plan is based around solid fundamentals, and the scrum is a big part of that.

Cortez Ratima

Just doesn’t seem to be his year right now, and he’ll probably be thankful the 2024 Test season is coming to an end if truth be told. He yet again struggled when coming off the bench, and things notably changed in attack upon his entry. His Chiefs combination with McKenzie just doesn’t seem to be transitioning well into the Black jersey, and he will certainly be lucky to keep his spot in the side next weekend.

Sevu Reece

Thrust straight into the side today for the injured Mark Tele’a, but was well-beaten by opposite man Bielle-Biarrey in most areas of the game. If anything, this game probably summed up his year in the Black jersey, a bit like Ratima in all honesty, as he has struggled to lock down a spot on the wing under Robertson so far. The Bordeaux ace just had his number at every turn, and that really kept him quiet.

All Blacks

Again, it seems so obvious to add them into the losers column considering they lost the game, but again it’s with good reason. The All Blacks were so dominant for much of that game tonight, and could easily have put it to bed if they played with more composure. When they got into good positions, especially in the second half, everything just became so frantic that they couldn’t then unpick the French defence, and this came back to haunt them as Les Bleus eeked out a win from almost nowhere. France seems to be their real bogey team, and they need to find a way to win against them, somehow.

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