France announce themselves as Rugby World Cup favourites after hard-fought win over New Zealand

Two tries from Mark Telea were not enough to mitigate an error-strewn All Blacks performance

at a packed Stade de France, inflicting on the All Blacks their first ever defeat in the pool stages.

However, the boot of Thomas Ramos kept France close and the finishing ability of Damian Penaud earned Les Bleus a six-point lead going into the final 15 minutes that New Zealand could not make a dent in, and when the ball bounced kindly for Melvyn Jaminet, it was the icing on the cake to delight almost every single one of the 78,690 fans inside the stadium.This was set up for France in every way.

All those years of planning and preparation, and it took less than 100 seconds to fall apart. A fine line-break by Rieko Ioane off New Zealand’s first line-out pinned France in the right corner and a Beauden Barrett cross-field kick exposed them in the other one, Telea calmly waiting for the bounce of the ball before touching down, his fourth try in only his sixth cap.

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