This is the only advantage of this absurdity of drawing lots so prematurely. For two and a half years and the decision to make this France – New Zealand the opening match, we have had time to study all possible and unimaginable scenarios, to analyze the slightest evolution in the balance of power, change thirty times the identity of the virtual hero who will enter the goal for the try to win in the last minutes. And on arrival? The strongest conviction remains that this clash full of stories constitutes undoubtedly the most beautiful way to launch this World Cup in France.
This is the idea repeated for months and accentuated in recent days as the Kiwi obstacle grows more and more on the road to this XV of France. Instead of pretending to vaguely fear a third knife of world rugby, the Blues only had to multiply the declarations full of emphasis when facing what remains, for the general public, the best team of the planet, triple world champion (1987, 2011, 2015), where France is still chasing a first coronation.
“The poster is very beautiful, everything comes together to make it a great event,” underlined Antoine Dupont, captain and leading figure of this 2023 vintage responsible for finally conquering the planetary title, in front of a French audience heated by the successes. of Fabien Galthié’s mandate (nearly 80% victories since 2020 and a Grand Slam in the 2022 Six Nations Tournament).
If all the neophytes who are passionate about the event will not have had time to grasp the somewhat complicated rules of the sport, the French public has understood that, for this edition at home, the alignment of the planets is such that never in history has a French XV seemed so capable of going to the end. It has an already won over audience but, consequently, with high expectations.
“They are under pressure as host country”
“They are under pressure as the host country. I don’t know how they’re going to handle that,” said All Blacks coach Ian Foster as a little pre-match joke. “I don’t feel any negative or crazy pressure,” Antoine Dupont had already anticipated the day before. His Blues are relaxed, “light” in the words of Fabien Galthié, or at least pretend very well to be, like the happy faces of the last training session of the week in a Stade de France redecorated in the colors of the ‘event.
The French XV is not gambling its life or its World Cup on this match, even if the loser will immediately resign themselves to playing for second qualifying place for the quarter-finals in a trap match against Italy. It wouldn’t be a tragedy, but at the very least a disappointment. Because this generation with 14 matches without defeat from 2021 to 2023 does not arrive in Saint-Denis in the role of the nice team who came to take a photo of the haka and leave with a valiant defeat under their arm.
“It will be a great day for all of us,” promises French manager Raphaël Ibañez. The Blues left nothing to chance and after a grueling preparation which left a few soldiers on the sidelines (Ntamack, Willemse, Baille, Danty), they worked in recent days to “fill the energy bar” , says winger Gabin Villière.
All this influx is programmed to be released on the pitch of the Stade de France, a fridge transformed by this team into a hot arena on big nights. Like when the Blues passed forty to these New Zealanders in November 2021 (40-25). This Friday September 8 is therefore not an end in itself. But this poster has what it takes to make it the first emotional peak of this World Cup.
