“We won’t play the All Blacks on Saturday, we will play New Zealand”, Saint-Andre said.
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All Blacks Coach, Steve Hansen has showed signs of confidence and has briefly highlighted that Sunday’s quarter final clash with France will not be a repetition of their 2007 misery.
With the four quarter finals all being north versus south match-ups, the New Zealand Herald claims that New Zealand, Australia and South Africa – winners of six of the previous seven World Cups – are “well fancied to advance to the last four”.
France have twice made the World Cup final and both times were beaten by the All Blacks when New Zealand hosted the tournament. New Zealand’s national rugby team performs a war dance.
Thierry Dusautoir and Morgan Parra of France after the 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool D match between France and Ireland.
“They are a proud nation who have done extremely well at World Cups”.
While the All Blacks narrowly beat France in the 2011 final, TV3’s David Di Somma said the opportunity to exact retribution on Les Bleus in the Welsh capital was a “dream scenario”.
“We are up now against the beast, the best country in the world”, added lock Yoann Maestri.
Fact, if ever the French get their act together they are very capable of beating any team in the world. “I make sure I don’t disrespect it and make sure you give it your all when you do it”.
“We are not favourites, we know this”.
“For me, the haka is a symbol of who we are and where we come from”, explains current captain Richie McCaw, whose team is seeking to become the first to successfully defend the World Cup crown. “But to be honest, when you are French, I think it is not good when you are favourite”, Saint-Andre said. “We have 80 minutes to bring the mountain tumbling down”. “I just remember a week after when I flew back into New Zealand, it was a pretty sad time”.
But Saint-Andre said the 24-9 loss to Ireland was already behind them and he warned New Zealand not to read too much into that match.
“We have no time to think about the defeat (against Ireland), we enter another competition, it’s the knockout phase now”.
Coach Philippe Saint-Andre: “We’re ready for a huge combat against New Zealand, we will need to improve in the rucks and take a lot more individual initiative”.
French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur published an article Thursday citing a “source close to the players” who said there had been a players’ uprising against Saint-Andre. We are under no illusions how tough it will be, and we saw against Ireland that they are prepared to put their bodies in the line’.
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“We’re not eliminated, we’re not dead, we have to rise up and prepare mentally”.
