Richie McCaw’s return was inevitable and he is accompanied in returning to the All Black starting line-up by fellow forwards Wyatt Crockett, who replaces the injured and now retired from Test rugby Tony Woodcock and Brodie Rettallick, as well as free-scoring winger Julian Savea.
“It's about getting the right 23, but by and large, a lot of the guys pick themselves,” said Steve Hansen, their head coach.
The All Black coach had a Basil Fawlty ‘don’t mention the war’ moment yesterday when he recalled an incident that caused major tension between the two countries, but his respect for quarter-finalist opponents France is clear.
"There has been a great relationship between the two countries for a long, long time and apart from the Rainbow Warrior, we've probably been on the same page most of the time,” he said.
"From a rugby point of view we have similar athletes. France have always had great athletes. Their game was built around flair in the backs and real physicality up front. I'm not sure it's the same flair they have now."
That was a reference to the infamous sinking of the Greenpeace ship by French intelligence agents in Auckland Harbour 30 years ago, but this time around it is a French street-fighter who has been recruited to cause the Kiwis problems with Philippe Saint-Andre recalling combative scrum-half Morgan Parra.
“He is a competitor. We are well aware of the leadership he brings to the pack and he has this ability to stick to the ball,” said France’s head coach who has also recalled Bernard Le Roux to his back-row and Alexandre Dumoulin at centre.
There are also personnel three changes to the Wales side which, like France, lost a pool decider last weekend as British & Irish Lions forwards Dan Lydiate and Gethin Jenkins return to the back and front rows respectively, while George North returns to the wing to accommodate Tyler Morgan’s inclusion at centre for their meeting with the Springboks.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel