We knew all about encouraging defeats in the Guy Novès era; on Saturday we discovered the admirable defeat. In the first match of their summer tour of New Zealand, France lost narrowly in Dunedin to the All Blacks (31-27). A first defeat in 7 years against the mythical southern-hemisphere nation, granted, but what a game this France side, for the most part inexperienced or downright novices at international level, served up!

Beria, Duguid, Fischer, Tixeront, Segonds, Spring, van Tonder… remember those names! Hell had been promised to these players and to this experimental France team, deprived of Ramos, Penaud, Marchand… and the other Toulouse and Bordeaux headliners who had contested the Top 14 final and been left to rest at home. Everyone wondered how the few remaining old soldiers, Fickou, Slimani and Villière, backed by a handful of troops only lightly seasoned in international honours (Le Garrec, Attissogbe, Guillard), could possibly hold back the black tide.

The New Zealanders themselves had spoken of a certain lack of respect on French rugby’s part in bringing a team of “nobodies” to their shores. In the end the Blacks, frustrated at having two tries disallowed during the game (57th, 63rd minutes) and gripped by the fear of an unworthy hiding, cautiously pushed France back to 4 points adrift with a penalty 5 minutes from time before gritting their teeth in the closing moments. Nobody had imagined such a scenario in the land of the long white cloud before the match and, let us be honest, not many had in the land of camembert and the baguette either.

“They had called us the B team”

What did this France side lack to snatch a monumental result, their first on Maori soil since 2009? Perhaps, much like UBB in the Top 14 final, the ability not to hand the opposition their confidence back straight after scoring. Will Jordan (20th) scored right after the first French try from Mickaël Guillard (17th). The same Jordan again replied very quickly (47th) to an early Gabin Villière try in the second half (43rd). What a shame!

“We were promised hell, they called us the B team… and it comes down to just 4 points. It’s frustrating but it’s a good sign for what’s ahead.” veteran Rabah Slimani (35), back with France after 6 years away, said in the immediate aftermath on Canal+. That pride has not always been enough to spare France a battering in New Zealand over the past 20 years, but this time it seems to have been an effective lever. They were supposed to go down in flames; they went down with honour, having given every France supporter a serious lift.