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'The bright side' Vernon Bason has taken from heavy loss to France
By Liam Heagney
On the receiving end of a 31-55 beating wasn’t what Vernon Bason imagined happening to New Zealand in the semi-final of the World Rugby U20 Championship. The Baby Blacks had defeated France in a pool match in Stellenbosch 10 days earlier, Rico Simpson kicking an 80th-minute penalty to dramatically win that classic 27-26.
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However, the exchanges were very different at Cape Town Stadium on Sunday. A seven-five try count might not sound like a vast difference, but there was a gulf between the teams in their rematch and New Zealand trooped off at the finish without any quibbles regarding the result.
Having shared some conciliatory words with his team, Bason then spent some time sitting on the floor of the corridor outside the New Zealand dressing room, touching base with some family over the phone and chatting through how he was feeling. Before he headed for the showers, there was also a reflection with RugbyPass.
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Losing by a 24-point margin certainly sucked but the captain was taking solace from how far the group had travelled, winning the inaugural U20 Rugby Championship on the Australian Gold Coast in May and then helping New Zealand reach their first World Rugby Championship semi-final since 2018.
That was an improvement on successive seventh-place finishes in 2019 and 2023, the latter coming with a 35-14 hammering by the French in a pool match in Paarl.
“The boys are disappointed but the bright side is how far we have come as a group from where we were five months ago,” he said, reflecting on a loss where the stubbornness that existed in New Zealand was evident in how they still scored two tries in four minutes nearing the hour despite having just lost Stanley Solomon to a red card.
“It’s a true testament to what we have achieved as a group. It shows their character, how much they are willing to dig in deep for the boys and I guess just efforts on top of efforts and just not giving up.
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“Personally, I am happy, real pleased with where we have come as a group from this time last year, obviously against France. We have done a lot better than what we were able to do last year to get this far. It’s a true testament to our genuine connection and team environment, how much we have been able to buy in as a group.
“To be able to have the culture that we have now, I am grateful for every part of it and there are a lot of positives to take out of this. But France came out on top, they showed up and reaped the rewards.
“As a group, we knew France were going to come back hard after that last game (in Stellenbosch) because we knew physically we had them up front, especially at the set-piece.
“The semi-final showed really massive improvements from that French group just being able to identify what we lack and areas they could attack us. They took us full throttle, went straight for it and they got really good play. They executed every chance they could in our 22 and they got the points.
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“Defensively I don’t think we clicked that first half, opening a lot of holes, and it was safe for them to get through, get offloads away, and see the nine running through the rucks. That was the main thing and just discipline really at that breakdown. That was a big focus for us this week but the ref kept picking us up on that.”
New Zealand aren’t finished at the tournament as they have a third-place play-off remaining on Friday versus Ireland. It was the second successive tournament where Six Nations teams had the greater semi-final representation, three to one against the southern hemisphere teams. Should anything be read into this repeat split?
France produced a try-scoring masterclass against New Zealand! ? ?? #WorldRugbyU20s | #NZLvFRA pic.twitter.com/HekvmchiV5
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) July 15, 2024
“Yeah, I think people should read into it but the one thing is it’s still early days,” reckoned Bason, referencing this year’s commencement of the age-grade Rugby Championship to help the southern hemisphere’s big four to prepare for the World Rugby Championship.
“It’s a new addition for the southern hemisphere teams, it’s something new that hasn’t happened before until this year. As the years progress you will see the growth of all those southern hemisphere teams and how much potential there is in that tournament and how it can lead into this championship.”
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And therein lies the problem of every team that starts faltering and accepts the ‘positives’ from it, especially after a big reality check.
All Blacks and U20 sides of the past wouldn't care less if the group had ‘grown’ or ‘how far they’d come’. It wouldn't be acceptable, and the moment it is, you fail again and again.
Plus the nature of U20s means much of the side changes every year, so it’s not like you build a team towards the following years tournaments.