Historic gap, tests galore… The success of the Blues has exploded the records

At the Stade de France,

The Lyon enclosure was emptied, the rugby posts were removed. There you go, France – New Zealand is a thing of the past, but our little hearts have not finished vibrating from the ventricle as we look back on this phenomenal match. While we wait for the flurry of Peato and Melvyn to be born in nine months, we will try to rationalize all these emotions by converting the evening into numbers. Bertrand Renard, this article is for you.

A French victory of 15 points, it’s unprecedented

40 minus 25 which makes us 15. The count is good. Yes, we know, we have seen more complicated calculation. On the other hand, we had never seen such a large French victory at the expense of the All Blacks, who remained on 14 successes against the Blues since 2009, including some memorable shakes (ah, this quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup and its painful 62- 13 …). Until now, the record was held by the gang at Philippe Sella and Emile Ntamack, victorious by 14 points in Christchurch on June 26, 1994 (8-22). Huge this Saturday evening, Ntamack junior has therefore overtaken Papa Milou.

-18, a historic gap on the All Blacks side at halftime

Well, we’ll tell you right away, we haven’t explored all the archives since the All Blacks first match, in 1903, to draw this incredible stat. We simply trusted our colleagues from the New Zealand Herald, who were not in the poorest position to talk about the subject. And according to these colleagues, their national team had never been so widely led at half-time as on this glorious Saturday for French rugby (24-6 or 6-24, depending on the hemisphere where we is located).

“These first tests were difficult for us, could only admit the captain Sam Whitelock, the mine completely defeated, in front of the press. We were very proud of our forwards and conceding points that way hurts. “Especially in a country where rugby is as important as cheese in Roquefort.

Three New Zealand defeats in the season, it’s extremely rare

As we have said, coach Ian Foster is preparing a tomorrow that does not sing back home with his troop after nearly three months of exile under bubble. Because by slipping in France a week after the failure of Dublin (29-20), his team conceded its second and third defeats in 2021, after the setback in early October against South Africa (31-29). Of course, New Zealand did not become the Liechtenstein of rugby. But she had never lost so much in a calendar year since 2009.

101 tests in one year, no one has done better

By planting three goals during a start to the second half that made the blue people tremble, the Blacks improved their record of tries in an international year: 101 in 15 games, or 6.8 per game. Well, nobody dared to congratulate Ian Foster and Sam Whitelock after the match, but the performance is worth noting anyway. Even if the matches against weak Tonga (102-0) and the United States (104-14) helped boost the score.

The double by Peato Mauvaka ????????

What first period of #XVdeFrance ! The hooker scores the third attempt of the evening for the Blues! The All Blacks are currently dominated by the French ????????

Follow the live ▶ https://t.co/AOuym6PFqH pic.twitter.com/1dd076JkU9

– francetvsport (@francetvsport) November 20, 2021

Peato Mauvaka power five

OK, the Toulouse player still has to correct his throws, with two balls lost in touch this Saturday night. But when it comes to sticking his nose in the oil, he doesn’t have much to learn. And since a hooker is often found at the conclusion of carried balls that end in the opponent’s in-goal, Mauvaka has planted a brace on two similar actions against the Blacks. Holder in the absence of Julien Marchand (injured), the man of the match (no, we no longer say Talent d’Or) had already proven that he was also effective when coming off the bench against Argentina (29-20 , one try) then Georgia (41-15, doubled) in the first two fall tests.

A single (but very big) snapshot

Usually, post-match interviews are full of ready-made phrases, to answer hard questions, admittedly not always inspired. Frankly, the comments made after this amazing France – New Zealand were rather good. With a special mention for the sincerity of Jonathan Danty, the bulldozer from La Rochelle who joked about his rotten first kick at the start of the match, and confided his emotion to have shone with his friends a few cables away from where he had pushed his first charges 29 years ago, in a maternity hospital in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.

Melvyn Jaminet was pretty good too. With one exception. And given his Catalan titan match, we will forgive him for his “we must take the matches one after the other”, which has made our ears bleed so many times since our beginnings in the career.

80,000 “pantyhose” on Romain Ntamack’s incredible risk-taking

As Cyril Baille says, “this action is magical, incredible”. In the 62nd minute, the competitor of Matthieu Jalibert restored confidence to the Blues, then under the threat of New Zealanders returned to two points, by escaping two opponents in his in-goal after a kick from the back Jordie Barrett . A relaunch of a crazy class, a few stints, and hop penalty and five points in advance which will still make the small ones. Ciao blacks …

We can brag now, but suddenly, a whole stadium wondered for a few seconds why the Toulouse opener did not flatten entry, even if it meant putting his team under pressure. Another anecdote to tell our grandchildren, when we talk to them about this evening of magic.