A little over a year on from their victory over the same opponents at the same venue in the Rugby World Cup opener, France again emerged victorious in a thrilling encounter.
But whereas Les Bleus eased clear of the All Blacks late on in their last meeting, Scott Robertson’s side stayed in the fight until the bitter end this time round.
It is to France’s credit that they were the ones holding all the cards at the death, having shaken off first-half set piece woes to lead from the 50th minute to final whistle.
Trailing by seven at the break, Paul Boudehent and Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored in quick succession to spark a turnaround which ultimately secured an historic third straight win over New Zealand.
“It is always a very tough game against New Zealand,” said Flament. “We knew during the training week it would be a tough battle as they are coming off two wins. We are very happy and it could have gone either way.
“We did not start in the right way and they put us under pressure. We managed to come back but they stayed in the fight until the end.
“We needed to trust our process and tactics in the second half and I think it paid off as we had more detail.”
Things largely went against France in the first half with Tevita Tatafu an early injury casualty and New Zealand punishing mistakes to full effect with tries from Peter Lakai and Cam Roigard.
Romain Buros scored on debut to breathe new life into the hosts, but it was the All Blacks who led 17-10 at the interval.
Given New Zealand had finished strongly in their wins over England and Ireland, it was a surprise to see them so shell-shocked after the break and Ardie Savea found the manner of the defeat difficult to take.
“We are extremely disappointed,” he said. We put ourselves right in there to win the game but we made silly mistakes and turned the ball over and a quality side will punish you, which they did. Pretty gutted.
“Of course you have to credit them ]for their second half performance]. We felt like we were in control and we were pretty accurate in the first half. In the second half we just let them into the game. They applied pressure on us and we could not handle it. Although I am extremely disappointed, I am also proud.
“We did not hit it [targets] tonight. We came here to win everything and we did not do that tonight. That is credit to France. We have to look in the mirror as we did not put the nail in the coffin.”
The All Blacks pushed hard at the death with a few Damian McKenzie strikes but Player of the Match Thomas Ramos delivered the penalty which proved enough for a famous win, one which saw the stars of today follow in the footsteps of the mid-1990s heroes as the only two French sides to have beaten New Zealand in three successive matches.
The All Blacks do, however, have the chance to sign off for the year on a winning note when they take on Italy in Turin next Saturday, while France will be eager to put the finishing touches to a successful autumn when Argentina make the trip to Paris on Friday.
