{"id":609437,"date":"2026-05-29T00:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T00:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/609437\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T00:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T00:56:11","slug":"nz-rugby-to-bear-brunt-of-france-selection-despite-policy-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/609437\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ Rugby to bear brunt of France selection despite policy change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The All Blacks look set to face a weakened France outfit once again when they face off in the opening round of the Nations Championship in July.<\/p>\n

A year on from their controversial three-Test series in New Zealand, which saw Les Bleus travel to the southern hemisphere with a severely understrength side, Fabien Galthie may have no other choice but to field a much-changed 23.<\/p>\n

With the encounter taking place just a week after the Top 14 final, Galthie will not select any players from the clubs that feature in that encounter.<\/p>\n

Although their policy has changed, effectively enabling the head coach to pick whoever he wants for the mid-year Tests according to Midi Olympique, that only applies to the latter two Tests against the Wallabies and Japan.<\/p>\n

As a result, it could give Dave Rennie a more relaxed start to life in the All Blacks<\/a> hotseat, even if a third-string France gave Scott Robertson\u2019s men a couple of scares in 2025.<\/p>\n

NZ Rugby\u2019s anger<\/p>\n

Rennie might be happy about that but NZ Rugby could take a dim view of it once again after reports they were \u201clivid\u201d by the tourists\u2019 approach ahead of last year\u2019s series.<\/p>\n

They also received barbs from All Blacks legend Justin Marshall, who called it \u201cdisrespectful\u201d<\/a> for them to bring over a weakened squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m really disappointed,\u201d Marshall said on The Breakdown ahead of the 2025 mid-year Tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe side the French have bought is clearly underpowered and you\u2019re talking about an average age of 25, and an average number of caps of 9.3, this is a side that has a very little amount of experience. There\u2019s 49% of the players who have no caps at all, so it\u2019s a development team with a few senior players involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my mind it\u2019s complete BS, the way that they\u2019re treating this tour, the way that the French always seem to have come up with excuses to not bring their top players. I feel they disrespect the international window.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to say that it\u2019s not going to be a contest out there but our fans deserve to see their best players playing in our country against our All Blacks because we do that in November to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe send our very best players to fill their stadiums and giving their fans the best experience they can get by seeing the best players in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are not doing that and if they keep doing this, which is quite regular for them, just don\u2019t invite them, we\u2019ll play someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loose Pass: Baseless Fabien Galthie accusation as France rule European rugby with 2007 All Blacks parallels<\/a><\/p>\n

France Test sold out in record time<\/p>\n

NZ Rugby may be happier this time around, however, having seen ticket sales fly, with the clash in Christchurch sold out in just four hours.<\/p>\n

They will hope the game matches the occasion and that France<\/a> can at least put their best available team out on the field.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks could still face the likes of Antoine Dupont if Toulouse go out of the Top 14 play-offs early but, given that they currently reside at the top by eight points, they are the favourites to reach the showpiece event.<\/p>\n

Galthie<\/a> may also simply decide to go down a similar route to last season given that France have never placed too much emphasis on the July internationals.<\/p>\n

While \u201cnothing is set in stone\u201d, Midi Olympique<\/a> reports, the head coach and his backroom team \u201care proceeding cautiously\u2026 depending on the players\u2019 workload and fitness levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is more on the line this season thanks to the creation of the Nations Championship, but that still may not convince the 57-year-old to change tack.<\/p>\n

France prepare for the competition when their \u2018A\u2019 side take on England in Vannes on June 19 before the squad fly to New Zealand on June 23 after the Top 14 finalists have been decided.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Next All Blacks captain: 8-man shortlist after Scott Barrett\u2019s injury as Ardie Savea gets the \u2018popular vote\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The All Blacks look set to face a weakened France outfit once again when they face off in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[819,348,3482,620,50,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-609437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-france","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}