WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The All Blacks are at a crossroads as they head into Saturday’s second rugby test against France.
After a fumbling performance in the first test in which they needed a late penalty to hold out a severely weakened French team, players and coaching staff are under pressure to produce huge improvement in the second match at Wellington.
New Zealand was expected to easily beat a French team stripped of most of its Six Nations stars. Instead, it struggled to assert any dominance, losing the aerial contest and at the breakdown.
Head coach Scott Robertson has laid down a challenge to players by naming a lineup which has only been changed in response to injuries. In doing so, he has placed pressure on players who under-performed last week to win more convincingly.
“I think the narrative has changed a little bit around what team they’ve brought,” Robertson said. “We’re focusing a little bit on continuity.
"We want to give the players a chance to build their combinations. This is three-test series. We’ve got one down and there’s a big one on Saturday.”
Pressure will begin to come on Robertson if the All Blacks are unable to step up to a higher level on Saturday. Robertson lost four tests in his first season in charge and promised improvement this year. He may be called to account if he cannot produce it.
However, not all the blame rests with the coach. Once again there is clear evidence that Super Rugby is not preparing Australian and New Zealand players for test matches. Australia also struggled in its first test of the season against Fiji.
France has made 10 changes to its starting lineup for Saturday’s second test. Head coach Fabien Galthie has been able to bring in five players who missed last weekend’s test after being involved in the final of the French Top 14 club competition.
The only players to retain their places in the starting lineup from the first test are Theo Attissogbe, who moves from fullback to the wing, Emilien Gailleton who moves from center to wing, flyhalf Joris Segonds, scrumhalf Nolann Le Garrec and hooker Gaetan Barlot who will captain the team.
Four players in the starting lineup will make their test debuts, all of them in the forward pack. The France starting lineup cumulatively has only 50 test caps.
The teams play their third and final test July 19 at Hamilton.
Fiji faces Scotland
Fiji head coach Mick Byrne says his team is capable of competing with Tier One nations and is ready to prove it again when it plays Scotland on Saturday.
Bryne said Fiji’s narrow loss to Australia last weekend shows its players are able to perform under pressure. Fiji produced a strong second half performance against the Wallabies before losing 21-18.
“I think we showed last week that we can mix it with the best teams in the world,” Byrne said. “Handling pressure is something the players do all the time and they showed it last week."
Scotland is coming off a narrow win over the New Zealand Maori last weekend as it heads into the second match of its Pacific tour.
Japan plays Wales
Japan hopes to make history by beating Wales in the second test at Kobe on Saturday.
The Brave Blossoms won the first test 24-19 and now hope to achieve their first back-to-back wins over a Tier One nation.
“Japan has never had a record of beating a top-tier team back-to-back so we’ve got a chance to create history,” Japan head coach Eddie Jones said. “But the more important thing for us is that we know we can play better.”
Michael Leitch, 36, again will lead Japan while France-based scrumhalf Naoto Saito returns to the starting lineup. Ichigo Nakakusu and Halatoa Vailea, who came off the bench to score tries in the first test, have been named to start on Saturday.
Wales will attempt to avoid its 19th successive test defeat. Dan Edwards will make his first test start at outside center, Freddie Thomas will join the starting lineup at lock and Archie Griffin comes in at prop.
Aaron Wainwright will replace in the injured Toby Faletau in the backrow.
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
Steve Mcmorran, The Associated Press
