New Zealand edged out France 34-32 in a breathless start to the inaugural Nations Championship.
France stunned the All Blacks as Damian Penaud scored the opening try less than 90 seconds into the match in Christchurch, with home woes amplified as Ruben Love was sin-binned for a high tackle.
But even a man down, New Zealand replied through Will Jordan and once back to full strength, they took a 12-10 lead with a slick move finished off by Peter Lakai.
Maxime Lucu’s penalty gave France the edge once more but the first half ended with Cam Roigard surging through a gap for New Zealand’s second try.
The teams traded blows at the start of the second half – three minutes after Antoine Hastoy’s try, Roigard got his second, then Theo Attissogbe’s 59th-minute score for France was followed by Jordan completing his brace.
That put New Zealand 34-25 clear, but Matthieu Jalibert ensured a tense finish when he crashed over in the 78th minute. The All Blacks held firm, though, with France kicking the ball away soon after the restart and the hosts playing out the required time to secure victory in Dave Rennie’s first match in charge.
France will be boosted by the return of a number of Top 14 stars for fixtures to come against Australia and Japan, though Antoine Dupont has been ruled out of the tour by injury.
An impressive Japan, meanwhile, equalled their biggest ever win over Italy as they opened the Nations Championship with a 27-10 win in Tokyo.
Italy struck first as Juan Ignacio Brex scored the opening try just five minutes in, converted by Paolo Garbisi, but it proved a false dawn as Japan soon took control, looking stronger in almost every facet of the game.
Warner Dearns’ levelled to scores before Takuro Matsunaga added a second, then kicking a 25th-minute penalty which put Japan 17-7 up.The first half ended with a Garbisi penalty to trim the deficit, but Japan were quickly back in business early in the second half as Ben Gunter went over in the 47th minute.
Matsunaga added a second penalty in the 67th minute to essentially settle the match, and the only disappointment for Japan was they could not find another try for a bonus point as they were held up on the line in the final seconds.
PA
