France – All Blacks: “They are special guys”, “Bielle-Biarrey, how fast it is”… Post-match reactions

Meafou et l'équipe de France se sont imposés face à la Nouvelle-Zélande. MAXPPP – Pierre Rouanet

The two captains and the two selectors appeared at a press conference after the match, this Saturday, November 16. Antoine Dupont and Fabien Galthié on the French side, Sott Barrett and Scott Robertson on the New Zealand side commented on the French victory (30-29).

Fabien Galthié, France selector:“This victory does us a lot of good, the scenario was not ideal at the start of the match. We had problems with conquests, scrums, interceptions… but we kept our heads down. This state of mind made the difference. The way we resolved the conquest problems and rectified the shooting at half-time, we paid for it very quickly. What counts is the result and the efficiency against a team that has been playing together for six months. The players did not give up. It is a prestigious victory tonight. We worked hard to get here, we were not always rewarded but it shows that we make the right decisions and the work we offer works. We are very proud of the players. They are special guys.”

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Antoine Dupont, captain of France: “A scenario like that gives a lot of joy. The feeling of holding our line at the end of the match is super exhilarating, knowing that we are counting on each other. Beating the Blacks is always very strong. It is always special to play them especially here in Paris. It was a difficult match, we made a lot of mistakes in the first half, the second was better. It is a great victory for us. We were able to score on the few opportunities that we had. It is the match where we defended the most, we saw on the last action that we still had this appetite and this desire to not give up.”

“Very proud of our efforts”

Scott Robertson, coach of the New Zealand: “I'm very proud of our efforts, of everything we did for each other. At one point the game changed, we should have put more pressure on them, but the French showed a lot of courage. We wanted to keep the ball and put pressure on them, that's exactly it, we could have played more with our feet. We created opportunities that we didn't take. Bielle Biarrey, that guy is so fast. It's incredible.”

Scott Barett, New Zealand captain: “It's an incredible atmosphere, I've been here before, it gives you momentum, and when they play well the crowd is behind them. We have seen the strength of France in recent years, at home, they are difficult to beat, they set the pace. We did not take all our opportunities. At the end, we could have tried to score a try, on a touch penalty but we come back to 1 point, we will have to see in our minds if it was a good decision. It would be fabulous to come and see Dupont play in New Zealand next year, it would be really cool to be able to play against them.”