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'The bright side' Vernon Bason has taken from heavy loss to France

New Zealand U20s skipper Vernon Bason looks on versus France (Photo by Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

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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HITS, BUMPS AND HANDOFFS! | The biggest collisions from the U20s World Championships

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HITS, BUMPS AND HANDOFFS! | The biggest collisions from the U20s World Championships

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.

Ruck Speed

0-3 secs
55%
49%
3-6 secs
32%
24%
6+ secs
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16%
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“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?

“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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Comments

1 Comment
J
Jasyn 127 days ago

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.

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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