- Canadian women's coach, two aides out after drone scandal
- Sinner turns aside Fritz to close in on ATP Finals last four
- Global stocks slip as markets take post-US election breather
- UN condemns 'acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes' in Gaza
- US bans flights to Haiti as gang violence rages
- Aga Khan emerald fetches record $9 mn in Geneva auction
- Venezuela crackdown helped avert 'civil war': attorney general
- Trump shapes team ahead of White House return
- Climate cash should also go to nuclear, says UN atomic chief
- Free Facebook in EU with less targeted ads
- Dupont set to be fit for New Zealand despite illness
- New balls, please, plead top men's tennis players
- Ban rules Radradra out of Fiji's final November internationals
- US contractor ordered to pay $42 mn to Iraqis tortured at Abu Ghraib
- Lame-duck US climate team vows to be 'effective' at COP29
- Painter Frank Auerbach, contemporary of Freud and Bacon, dies at 93
- UN carbon market inches closer after COP29 agreement
- US finalizes waste methane fine on drillers, but future uncertain
- Fifteen inmates killed in new Ecuador jail massacre
- Trump tariff worries trip up stocks rally, dollar climbs
- Israel opens Gaza humanitarian crossing but aid groups say not enough
- 35 killed, dozens wounded in south China car ramming
- 'Carbon-neutral' countries demand credit at COP29
- FA investigates Premier League referee Coote over video rant
- Boeing expects post-strike output recovery to take several weeks
- Trump shapes cabinet ahead of White House return
- Blinken in emergency Brussels trip on Ukraine after Trump win
- All Blacks scrum-halves 'inspired' to play 'master' Dupont
- Medvedev sees off De Minaur to boost ATP Finals bid
- Lindt disputes US lawsuit claims, stands by 'excellence' labelling
- Trump tariff worries trip up stocks rally
- UK to beef up its emissions cuts as it bids to be 'climate leader'
- Nations to submit boosted climate plans: what's at stake?
- French footballer Ben Yedder gets suspended jail term for sexual assault
- Nuclear watchdog chief says room to manoeuvre on Iran 'shrinking'
- Russia jails doctor over alleged Ukraine comments during consultation
- EU vessels to cease fishing in Senegal after accord expires
- Bayer shares hit 20-yr low as problems pile up
- Russian MPs pass law banning 'propaganda' of childless lifestyles
- NATO 'must do more than just keep Ukraine in fight', says Rutte
- EU unity in a 'world on fire': Kallas makes top diplomat pitch
- UK vows to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 81% on 1990 levels by 2035
- Crisis-hit Germany headed for February 23 snap election
- C.Africa urges lifting of embargo on diamond exports
- Poland hoping Swiatek can inspire BJK Cup 'revenge' against Spain
- Court challenge begins against UK oil and gas field approvals
- Stock markets retreat on Trump tariff worries
- Spain PM accused of 'blackmail' by tying budget to flood aid
- Lineker to leave Match of the Day after 26 years
- New EU chief diplomat backs Ukraine as bloc's top team faces grilling
CMSC | -0.73% | 24.54 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.85% | 24.75 | $ | |
JRI | -2.27% | 13.22 | $ | |
BCC | -1.42% | 141.13 | $ | |
NGG | -1.97% | 62.9 | $ | |
SCS | 0.15% | 13.67 | $ | |
RBGPF | 0.05% | 60.22 | $ | |
BCE | -0.58% | 27.69 | $ | |
RIO | -2.29% | 61.2 | $ | |
RYCEF | -2.37% | 7.16 | $ | |
GSK | -2.34% | 35.52 | $ | |
BTI | 0.26% | 35.24 | $ | |
VOD | -10.04% | 8.47 | $ | |
AZN | 0.61% | 65.19 | $ | |
BP | -2.7% | 28.16 | $ | |
RELX | -2.6% | 46.59 | $ |
Defence puts a smile on All Blacks faces ahead of French Test
New Zealand head to France for next Saturday's Test on the back of an impressive 23-13 victory over Six Nations champions and world ranked number one side Ireland.
The All Blacks outthought and outfought an uncharacteristically sloppy Irish side to bring the hosts 19-match winning home streak to an end.
AFP Sport picks out three things which puts a pep in the step of New Zealand ahead of their first match at the Stade de France since losing 12-11 to South Africa in last year's World Cup final:
Defence is razor-sharp
The All Blacks victory was built, like their epic 28-24 triumph over the Irish in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final last year, on a rock solid defence.
The hosts Josh van der Flier scored a try early in the second-half but rather than sparking an Irish deluge they rarely got a sniff of another chance as the All Blacks extinguished their attacks.
This display had head coach Scott Robertson purring.
"We produced some really incredible defensive plays when we did get the opportunity," he said.
"We made some tackles and their discipline went and we managed to get inside their half and put a little bit of pressure and that led to some points so we could play from the front."
For Robertson, who took over after the World Cup final, it has been an up and down first year losing three of their Rugby Championship Tests, including one to Argentina.
However, the 50-year-old, nicknamed 'Razor', said the difference on Friday was the scrum showed they had learned from errors in those losses.
"Yeah, look, as I've said before, every game we could have won this year," he said.
"We got a couple of scrum penalties that swung the momentum back our way, which sometimes have gone the other way."
Scrum-half dilemma
Robertson's main selection conundrum for the France Test may well be at scrum-half.
There is as yet no clear number one since the great Aaron Smith retired after the World Cup final loss to the Springboks.
The starter against Ireland Cortez Ratima had a torrid time especially at the breakdowns, outshone by the hosts Jamison Gibson-Park, and was hooked early in the second-half.
His replacement Cam Roigard, who has returned from a serious knee injury, looked more assured.
However, All Blacks skipper Scott Barrett shouldered some of the blame for Ratima's problems at the breakdown.
"At times our body height was a little bit high and they were able to disrupt and we gave Cortez some messy balls, so yeah, I guess it's on us," he said.
"That's probably the first thing to address next week."
Robertson for his part praised both saying Ratima was "learning really quickly" and his fellow 23-year-old Roigard has all the "attributes" for Test rugby and is "really classy."
"We've got some great competition at half-backs," he said.
Barrett leads from the front
There's nothing a team likes more than to see their captain stepping up when he sees something not to his liking on the pitch.
The bad blood between the teams -- harking back to a fruity exchange between now retired Irish icon Johnny Sexton and All Blacks centre Rieko Ioane as the final whistle blew on their quarter-final -- came to a head early in the first-half.
Barrett fronted up to Irish lock Joe McCarthy.
"I don't usually take exception, but I saw something that was below the line for me," he said.
"I think I was getting up from a ruck and from where I saw it, it looked like Damian (McKenzie) was on the ground and I think Joe cleaned him up.
"From where I saw it, it looked like it was around his head, it looked like a bit of a shoulder.
"I had to make a point of, it's not tonight, you're targeting our 10 like that."
F.Pavlenko--BTB