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All Blacks name team for second Test with France

The All Blacks are unchanged for Saturday’s second Test against France at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

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New Zealand recovered from an 11-8 deficit to score 44 unanswered points in a 52-11 opening Test win in Auckland which was marred by the double head fracture to France winger Remy Grosso in a collision with Sam Cane and Ofa Tu’ungafasi.

All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen said: “As we have a big focus right now on developing our game and working on our skillsets, connections and combinations, it isn’t beneficial to be making wholesale changes, if any at all, to the playing 23.

“Whilst we were really happy with the way we finished last weekend’s Test, we’re fully aware that we still have a lot of work to do over the rest of the Steinlager Series.

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“The French would’ve taken a lot of confidence out of their first 50 minutes on the weekend and will be coming to play on Saturday night. Therefore, it will require us to raise our game to an even higher level.

“Rather than being inhibited by this, we’ll be embracing and walking towards the challenge. We’ll be looking to play our own high-energy game with real intent.

“When it comes to our performance, we know there are high expectations from our fans. This, in turn, demands that we drive our own expectations even higher.

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Captain Samuel Whitelock  will win his 98 cap while prop Owen Franks will pick up his 97th. Whitelock is the most capped All Blacks lock of all time and eighth on the list of most capped All Blacks, while Franks is the second most capped prop behind Tony Woodcock (118).

Cane is in the backrow, while prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi is among the replacements.

World Rugby came in for some stinging criticism over independent Citing Commissioner Freek Burger’s decision to issue  Tu’ungafasi with just a warning over the tackle on France winger  Grosso.

Former Wales international Jonathan Davies branded the decision “clueless”.

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Tu’ungafasi insisted he never intended to hurt Grosso in a tackle that left the France wing with a double facial fracture.

Cane’s arm appeared to make contact with the head of Grosso, who was then hit in the face by Tu’ungafasi’s shoulder as he went to the ground.

A press release from World Rugby said “Having reviewed all available camera angles, the Citing Commissioner considered Ofa Tu’ungafasi to have executed a dangerous tackle “just short of” red card level (in accordance with World Rugby Regulation 17), which caused injury to France winger Remy Grosso.”

Both sides will be looking to move on from the affair which dogged the aftermath of the first Test.

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J
JW 21 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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