Dunedin is the venue for the first of three international rugby test matches between New Zealand and France on Saturday and the All Blacks are firm favourites with the bookmakers
New Zealand v France, Saturday 5th July, Dunedin, KO 09:05 (South African time)
Referee: Nic Berry (RA)
Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley (RFU), Takehito Namekawa (JRFU)
TMO: Damon Murphy (RA)
Weather Forecast – N/A indoor arena
New Zealand:
This is a 3 match series with the second test taking place in Wellington and the third in Hamilton. The teams met in Paris last year in the November internationals and the All Blacks were 17-10 in front at half time but finished beaten 30-29. That was the only defeat on the All Blacks end of year tour which started with wins in Japan (64-19), England (24-22) and Ireland (23-13). After the defeat in Paris New Zealand then saw off Italy (29-11).
New Zealand's 2024 Rugby Championship campaign comprised of 3 wins and 3 defeats and they came in as distant runners up to the Springboks. They finished with back to back wins over Australia (31-28) in Sydney and finally (33-13) in Wellington and retained the Bledisloe Cup. Back to back defeats to the Boks in South Africa in Rounds 3 and 4 (27-17 and 31-27) had pretty much ended their title hopes. Their first two matches came at home to Argentina and they lost 38-30 in Round 1 and then bounced back and in some style, running out 42-10 winners a week later.
In The July internationals of 2024 New Zealand won both tests at home to England (16-15 and 24-17)
France:
France are without a number of key figures for this series due to a combination of injury and players being rested. Les Bleus arrive in New Zealand having landed the 6 Nations title earlier this year, winning 4 and losing 1 of their matches to finish 1 point clear of England and 2 better off than Ireland. They routed Wales (43-0) in a home fixture before losing out to England (26-25) at Twickenham. That defeat was followed by wide margin wins in Italy (73-24), in Ireland (42-27) and finally at home to Scotland (35-16).
Aside from edging out the All Blacks in November last year other results in that series saw France beat Japan (52-12) and Argentina (37-23).
In July 2024 France shared a 2 match series with Los Pumas in Argentina, winning the first match 28-18 and losing the second 33-25.
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Recent Head to Head
France have won each of the last 3 head to heads, 30-29 in Paris in November 2024, in the opening match of RWC23 in Paris France came out on top 27-13 and also in Paris in November 2021 France won 40-25.
Prior to that the All Blacks had won each of the previous 14 head to heads
Team News
All Blacks: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Christian Lio-Willie, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Tupou Vaa’i, 5 Fabian Holland, 4 Scott Barrett (c), 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Ollie Norris, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Samipeni Finau, 20 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Quinn Tupaea, 23 Damian McKenzie
France: 15 Theo Attissogbe, 14 Tom Spring, 13 Emilien Gailleton, 12 Gael Fickou (c), 11 Gabin Villière, 10 Joris Segonds, 9 Nolann Le Garrec, 8 Mickael Guillard, 7 Killian Tixeront, 6 Alexandre Fischer, 5 Tyler Duguid, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Gaetan Barlot, 1 Giorgi Beria
Replacements: 16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Paul Mallez, 18 Regis Montagne, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Cameron Woki, 21 Jacobus van Tonder, 22 Baptiste Jauneau, 23 Antoine Hastoy
The Betting
Updated 04 July 20h41
New Zealand -21.5 points at 9/10
France +21.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 04 July 20h46
This handicap opened -14.5 and has been moving out all week. It seems to have settled at New Zealand -21.5.
The French have scary depth but I think they are going to find the All Blacks too strong and I like the home team to cover the cap.
The bet I prefer though is New Zealand over 40.5 points.
The game is under the roof and so conditions will be good and given the build up and disappointment in the French squad sent over I think they will keep the hammer down when they get on top.
Bet: 5 units New Zealand over 40.5 points at 8/10 at Sportingbet
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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