If the All Blacks step onto the turf at Stade de France tonight with the same trepidation that the New Zealander David Tua will be suffering a few hours later when he clambers into the ring in Las Vegas, it will hardly be surprising.
For it is little more than a year ago that France and New Zealand met in that match, the game that scrambled the senses of a nation where rugby is more than a game. France's 43-31 defeat of the All Blacks in their World Cup semi-final at Twickenham was described by Bill McLaren as the greatest game the old sage has ever seen.
Since then, of course, the All Blacks and Australia have played two Bledisloe Cup games that have earned more superlatives than the Sydney Olympics. But the defeat by France last October is a ghost that needs exorcising if rugby's heavyweights are to get the verdict in two Tests against Les Bleus in Paris and in Marseille next weekend.
Yes, the All Blacks should win. They are the second best side in the world while France hardly punched their weight in a strangely passionless match in front of a two-thirds full Stade de France when Australia, the best side on the planet, won 18-13 last Saturday.
But Wayne Smith, New Zealand's coach, was paying compliments to his hosts yesterday and he has good reason to be wary of the French. They have won this fixture four times in the last six meetings and often France have been at their best when their backs are against the wall.
The French have a saying which roughly translates as "The cockerel crows loudest when up to its knees in merde". It is a theme beloved of the Asterix books where the embattled natives triumph over the stronger invaders with a mixture of luck and cunning. And while France may not have their Obelix in their mighty back-row warrior Abdelatif Benazzi they can still repel the most dangerous of foes on a good day. Christophe Lamaison, though, will have to rapidly find his range with his boot if the French are to deliver a knockout blow tonight.
FRANCE: Garbajosa; Lombard, Dourthe, Comba, Bory; Lamaison, Galthie; Marconnet, Landreau, Califano, Auradou, Pelous (capt), Moni, Magne, Juillet. Replacements: Azam, De Villiers, Brouzet, Betsen, Carbonneau, Delaigue, Bernat-Salles.
NEW ZEALAND: Cullen; Howlett, Umaga, Gibson, Lomu; Mehrtens, Marshall; Feek, Oliver, Somerville, Blackadder (capt), Maxwell, Thorne, Robertson, Cribb. Replacements: Spencer, Reihana, Kelleher, Slater, Hammett, Randell, Flavell.
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