New Zealand and France get a chance to salvage some pride in the play off for third and fourth this Thursday night.
The venue for the match is Sydney’s Telstra Stadium, the scene where both sides lost their semi final show downs against Australia and England respectively to bow out of contention for the Webb Ellis Cup.
Form guide
Both teams performed brilliantly in the Pool rounds of RWC. New Zealand had been tipped by many pundits to make the final, until they disappointed against a fired up Australia on Saturday losing 22-10 in a strangely lacklustre effort.
They were outplayed up front and out wide by a Wallaby team that looks to have finally found it’s A game.
The potent back three strike force of Joe Rokocoko, Doug Howlett and Mils Muliaina was not given a chance to perform by a blanket defence that simply smothered their space.
The play making ability of Carlos Spencer was similarly blunted. Both he and veteran half back Justin Marshall failed to get much going behind a forward pack that failed to dominate in the set piece and at the break down.
The French forwards were also unable to exert their will on a rampant English pack in the second semi final on Sunday.
France conceded territory and possession too often to England who were able to accumulate points through the super boot of fly half Jonny Wilkinson, who slotted three drop goals on the way to scoring all 24 of his side’s points.
Certainly the heavy rain did not suit the free ranging style of Les Bleus who were completely shut out by the English.
Both sides will be hoping to reproduce the sort of form that made them so dominate in the quarter finals.
Previous meetings
France and New Zealand have played 40 times, the All Blacks winning 29, the Tricolours 10 with one draw.
France and New Zealand have played twice at RWC, sharing the head to head one-all. The most recent match, the remarkable 43-31 semi final win by France at RWC 1999. The first was the 29-9 win by New Zealand in the inaugural RWC final at Eden Park in 1987.
Previous playoffs
The All Blacks have been forced to play the midweek curtain raiser to RWC final twice before, the first a 13-6 win over Scotland at the 1991 Tournament and the second a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the 1999 Tournament. Both games were played at Cardiff.
France played the third and fourth playoff in 1995 and defeated England 19-9.
Year to date
The All Blacks are coming off a routine 6-1 record in tests in 2003, which began with their only pre RWC loss, 15-13 loss to England in Wellington on 14 June and included three scores over 50, the biggest a 55-3 result over the touring Welsh in Hamilton on 21 June.
France had a mixed 2003 prior to the RWC winning five of 11 test matches, beginning with the 25-17 loss to England at Twickenham in the Six nations on 15 February. They were twice beaten by Argentina in Buenos Aries within a week and lost to Ireland 15-12 in Dublin. Their highest score a 53-27 result over Italy in Rome and their biggest win a 38-3 result over Scotland in Paris in February.
In and out
There is a stark contrast in the selection decisions from both camps. All Blacks coach John Mitchell has made just one change to the starting side with Auckland scrum half Steve Devine replacing the injured Justin Marshall who was unavailable with a rib injury.
The only other change to the New Zealand side occurs on the bench with Carl Hoeft coming into the reserves for Kees Meeuws who has injured his calf muscle.
Meanwhile, French coach Bernard Laporte has made 13 changes to the side that started their semi final against England last Sunday. The only survivors from the team which was defeated 24-7 are prop Sylvain Marconnet and centre Tony Marsh.
Key players
With the retirement of Fabien Galthié, Dmitri Yachvili gets the chance to stake his calm for the number nine jersey in the post-Galthié era. He will form an important combination with scrum half Gerald Merceron, who will also be attempting to wrestle his starting spot back from Frederic Michalak.
While New Zealand born French centre Tony Marsh will look to impress after a fine Tournament.
It would be difficult to pinpoint which All Black would feel most under pressure to perform before they return home. However, fly half Carlos Spencer would be looking to get his backline firing again after a disappointing performance against Australia.
The lineout combination of Keven Mealamu, Chris Jack and Ali Williams will also be looking for a strong performance against the impressive French lineout.
What they said
Jo Maso (FRA) - Manager
On the team to play New Zealand:
"It's a fresh team, they are ready. Most of the team played an excellent game against the USA in Wollongong and part of our philosophy during this World Cup was to play with 30 players, and we have confidence in them."
"They will be out to win because we have had a very positive World Cup. The image of the French both on and off the field has been positive and we hope that there won't be two consecutive defeats to sully the tail end of the World Cup."
"This French team not only represents the XV for this match but also represents the medium and long term future of French rugby."
Bernard Laporte (FRA) - Coach
On picking the team after an exhausting game against England in the Semi Final:
"It's very tough to get back after such a tough game, all of our guys are mentally exhausted. The guys that have been picked are very fresh and ready to go and they are all mainly young players with the strong possibility of playing in the 2007 World Cup."
On whether Frederic Michalak will take the field against New Zealand:
"Well he's on the bench so he may very well be playing."
John Mitchell (NZL) - Coach
On the importance of the match:
"This is a really important match for us as a group. We thought the best thing we could do was stick with a proven combination," Mitchell said on Tuesday as he announced the side.
On the disappointment of the semi final loss:
"We have put that behind us. We have to. This is a test match against France and we have to deal with that," he said. "Naturally we are surrounded by a bit more difficulty than usual but that is the challenge facing us."
On France’s unpredictability:
"They will have a wonderful spirit and the amount of spirit turns up with the pressure off. They are the most structured and organised French side I have come across and hugely disciplined. They will try and test us at scrum time, their lineout is definitely very tall and there will be a lot of challenges for us at the breakdowns."
Match details:
New Zealand v France
20 November 2003
Telstra Stadium, Sydney
Kickoff: 20.00
Match officials:
Referee: Chris White
Touch Judges: Peter Marshall, David McHugh
TMO: Stuart Dickinson