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Christophe Ena
AS IT HAPPENED

As it happened: New Zealand v France, Rugby World Cup quarter-final

We were live from the Millennium Stadium to go minute-by-minute while the All Blacks aimed to exorcise a few of their own 2007 demons.

Now we’re cooking!

After 41 games at the Rugby World Cup, sh….schtuff gets real in the Millennium Stadium tonight as match 42 brings those great old foes New Zealand and France head to head.

Let us know your pre-match predictions and your thoughts during the game. Comment below, join us on Facebook or tweet us @Rugby_ie.

No news is good news as far as changes to the starting line-ups are concerned.

Check out the two number 23s who are bound to make a thunderous impact whenever they enter this game.

New Zealand

15. Ben Smith
14. Nehe Milner-Skudder
13. Conrad Smith
12. Ma’a Nonu
11. Julian Savea
10. Daniel Carter
9. Aaron Smith

1. Wyatt Crockett
2. Dane Coles
3. Owen Franks
4. Brodie Retallick
5. Sam Whitelock
6. Jerome Kaino
7. Richie McCaw (captain)
8. Kieran Read

Replacements:

16. Keven Mealamu
17. Joe Moody
18. Charlie Faumuina
19. Victor Vito
20. Sam Cane
21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
22. Beauden Barrett
23. Sonny Bill Williams

France

15. Scott Spedding
14. Noa Nakaitaci
13. Alexandre Dumoulin
12. Wesley Fofana
11. Brice Dulin
10. Frederic Michalak
9. Morgan Parra

1. Eddy Ben Arous
2. Guilhem Guirado
3. Rabah Slimani
4. Pascal Pape
5. Yoann Maestri
6. Thierry Dusautoir (captain)
7. Bernard Le Roux
8. Louis Picamoles

Replacements:

16. Dimitri Szarzewski
17. Vincent Debaty
18. Nicolas Mas
19. Damien Chouly
20. Yannick Nyanga
21. Rory Kockott
22. Remi Tales
23. Mathieu Bastareaud

Right, we’ve made our way from the jam-packed press room to the gantry.

This is The42‘s view for tonight.

view

We might night you all to give a few pointers on what happens on the other side of the field.

Both teams have headed back to the changing rooms. The ABs particularly went through a very short warm-up… saving themselves for the Haka obviously.

Here they come. Clear your throats and get ready to bellow out La Marseillaise, roll up your shorts and prepare your thighs for a Haka-tastic slapping.

And there’s a game to enjoy after that too.

France fans definitely outnumbering their Kiwi counterparts

There we have it. New Zealand go through their Kapo o Pango, France stand on their 10 and take it.

Now it’s game time.

KICK -OFF: Carter goes short, Ben Smith rises to contest. Yoann Maestri is hit hard and he looks like hes’ badly concussed as the Blacks go left.

Ma’a Nonu looks like he fancies it today. A couple of really powerful pacy carries to the France 22. Les Rouges (for tonight) survive the early attacks as Carter is forced to grubber through bodies.

A half break from NMS, but he’s barged in to touch. Yoann Maestri is still on the field despite walking around like a drunk a few minutes ago.

Penalty! New Zealand 3 France 0 (Carter ’6)

Dusautoir is done for holding on 40 metres out. DC slots his boys into the lead.

Spedding will look to level things up immediately after Retallick is caught with hands in the ruck.

PENALTY! New Zealand 3 France 3 (Spedding ’9)

It didn’t look like the best connection, but with a little help from the post, France are level.

TRY! New Zealand 8 France 3 (Retallick ’10)

Wow. That’s a huge breakthrough and a huge play from the big man in the row.

Retallick raced out of the line to charge down Michalak, got two good hands on it and appeared to catch it on the first bounce on his 25 metre gallop for the try-line.

DC adds the extras too.

New Zealand 10 France 3

PENALTY! New Zealand 10 France 6 (Parra ‘ 15)

Exactly what France needed after the bodyblow of losing a try and Freddy MIchalak (to a hamstring nijury) in the one play.

And here they come again. Black shirts caught offside after France pour through gaps out wide, eating up space and chasing loose bobbling balls.

And Parra… oh, wow. He’s missed. It’s still a four-point game.

France just adore momentum. Nakaitaci leaps to take a high ball on the right and they’re off again.

New Zealand’s D is holding firm though. And their maul sets a solid base to exit before Nigel Owens’ whistle gives them leave to kick into France territory.

What!? Dan Carter drops back in the pocket for a drop-goal. New Zealand HATE drop foals and this is why.

He’s blocked down, but… ah here. Nehe Milner-Skudder is a superstar.

TRY! New Zealand 15 France 6 (NMS ’23)

“How do you stop that?” asks Murray Kinsella beside me.

After NZ scramble backwards on to the ball they quickly re-form their attacking structure and go right to find the former Turbo.

NMS kills off three defenders in one fell swoop, stepping powerfully off his right and into space, swerving behind the last man to send the black-clad crowd absolutely wild.

DC has his radar on full battery power too.

New Zealand 17 France 6

TRY! New Zealand 22 France 6 (Savea ‘ 29)

Glorious stuff from Dan Carter. Has been really attacking the line with intent in recent weeks and here he goes between two red jerseys, hands off Pascal Pape and offloads to Julian Savea to give the winger a canter around the back.

It’s going to be a long night from here on in for France.

New Zealand 24 France 6

Ooomph! NMS does well to get low and out of the way of most of Picamoles as the big 8 charges off the back of a scrum and into black territory. France use the gainline advantage well and flood forward from left to right. NZ’s scramble is excellent though. The wall is soon restored.

The crowd are on their feet, they think it’s a try, but Nigel Owen or I ain’t so sure. TMO.

Nope. The pass was missed completely. Nothing wrong here.

TRY! New Zealand 24 France 13 (Picamoles ’36)

TRY! New Zealand 29 France 13 (Savea ‘ 38)

Wow! What a phase of play. Ben Smith rises high just inside the French half to claim a high ball. The two men collide in the air and his contestant is left crumpled.

The ABs don’t hang around to assess the damage, they spin left and Retallick delivers a lovely pass on the way to getting the ball to Savea. The big man on the left bumps off not one, not two but three big red jerseys before touching down.

France must be shell-shocked after that half.

HALF-TIME: New Zealand 29 France 13

Good bloody shout. It’s vintage Carter out there.

And, ladies and gents, we have a new record.

Finally, that Ireland-France quarter-final is off the books.

Y’all ready to give up, or are you thirsty for more?

The second half is here.

The French fans are a little flat to start the second half, the Kiwis too because they reckon the game is won. So it’s down to the pockets of Ireland fans around the ground to make the noise and they give us a full and lasting rendition of Fields of Athenry.

On the field, NMS was replaced at HT by Beauden ‘Beaudy’ Barrett of Meath GAA fame.

There are flashes of skill and intent from France to get an Allez les Bleus from their fans, but whenever they’re annexed by black shirts or DC clears over their heads, the body language reveals beaten men.

Nothing wrong with the maul’s body language. They get a good angle on and eek a penalty out of NZ.

A row breaks out. It’s hard to see from here, but I can guarantee you Pascal Pape is at the root of it.

No it’s not Pape. It’s Picamoles and he’s gone in to self-destruct mode and punched Richie McCaw while he was pinned to the ground.

Apparently Nigel Owens didn’t see a punch, he seen a ’Push with the fist’, which sounds like a very friendly action.

SIN-BIN: Louis Picamoles

Pape is replaced by Nyanga too.

TRY! New Zealand 34 France 13 (Kaino ’50)

The world champs (in form) against 14 men. No contest.

Even when a pass to Savea goes to ground, they still scramble back on to the front foot and Beauden’s delayed pass allows Kaino a little extra space to sneak into the corner.

New Zealand 34 France 13

Huge roar for the introduction of Sonny Bill Williams. This isn’t going to  get any better fro France

Looked like Whitelock deliberately taken out on last NZ lineout. France are in a right huff out there now.

We’ve had several loud renditions of the Fields of Athenry, now all the Irish give us some Ole Ole Ole.

The Pumas try to hijack it, but…. wait.. Julian Savea hijacks it instead.

TRY! New Zealand 39 France 13 (Savea ’59)

Yep, it’s a tonking. Savea breaks on the left side of the halfway line and he can’t be caught.

Mathieu Bastareaud comes in to the contest with the game all but over.

New Zealand 41 France 13

TRY! New Zealand 48 France 13 (Read ‘ 63)

Gee whizz, we sure softened France up last week.

DC fizzes a pass at Big Charlie Faumina and the tighthead saunters through a gap in the 22 before getting a pass away to Kieran Read.

How many tries is that, six?

TRY! New Zealand 55 France 13 (Kerr-Barlow)

The whistles are beginning to rain down from the French fans who still gave a damn about their team. This is an absolute tonking.

The seventh try came for replacement scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow after a big bash and offload from Nonu. A great play from a great player, but its getting worryingly easy for the silver ferns to carve through.

TRY! New Zealand 62 France 13 (Kerr-Barlow ’70)

Play it again, Sam.

Pretty disgraceful defensive effort from FRance now. You have to say it’s an insult to the supporters that are here.

Joe Moody was the prop that sailed through a red zone gap this time. Again it was a nice offload to the replacement 9, but France have pretty much downed tools when they don’t have the ball.

The game’s long over. I’m going to keep an eye on Kieran Read for these final 7 minutes if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

Read is a bit heavy footed at this stage of the game. He was caught getting late into the defensive line and Kockott breezed by him.

The big number eight is all out of puff. He caught up with play after Smith’s excellent chip chase, but he can only reach out a paw and slap a French pass down. Earlier in the game he would have been on his toes to intercept that.

As Read is picked out again for a France break, Julien Savea is named man of the match. Because, when you score a hat-trick, you probably deserve. it.

Ah, sickened!

Ma’a Nonu burst through the middle, rounded another defender and was on course for one of the best tries of this game… but he bloody well dropped the thing when he was hit five metres from the line.

FULL-TIME: New Zealand 62 France 13

C’est ça, as they say. France are out of the World Cup, the champions march on after their most impressive display of the tournament.

We’ve already moved shop to the press conference room to hear what Phlippe Saint-Andre Thierry Dusautoir, Richie McCaw and Steve Hansen thought of all that.

Should be interesting.

Keep your Twitter dial locked on @Rugby_ie for some quotes and insights as they happen. Or wait until the full picture emerges on The42 a little later… or both. Both would be good too.

If France won’t bring the old school flair, Nehe Milner-Skudder will

The All Black out-half who honed his skills on the GAA fields of Co Meath

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