Guy Accoceberry, former international victorious against the All Blacks in 1994 in a legendary match, said Saturday, November 20 on franceinfo that the French rugby team has “better players than some Blacks in certain positions” and “that can make the difference”. After their rather unconvincing victories against Argentina and Georgia, the Blues face the New Zealanders this Saturday at 9 pm. For Guy Accoceberry the feat is possible. “It would be a great victory that could put them on the right track for 2023”, year of the World Cup organized in France.
franceinfo: In what state of mind were you in 1994 before facing the All Blacks?
Guy Accoceberry: Back then or now, for any rugby player, facing the Blacks is the Holy Grail. It’s about facing the best in the world. We face the best players, the best collective. It is a rather privileged moment at the same time, a moment before which one has a lot of fears because one always has the fear of taking 30 or 40, if not more. But the fact of playing the best players, it allows you to already be able to gauge yourself, and then behind, to have the opportunity to beat them. A match is a match. If you beat the Blacks, as it doesn’t often happen, putting that on your CV is a performance. It is a particular preparation where you need a lot of concentration. And then, of course, to give the maximum, but not to go without a hitch and think that we are going to try to do things. You really have to have established your plan, which was the case at the time with Pierre Berbizier. We knew how to take them.
The last victory dates back to June 13, 2009. What do the Blues lack to gain the upper hand?
It is a story of cycles and generations. In 2003, there was fourth place in the World Cup. Afterwards, it was quite complicated. These have been ups and downs. Since 2011, this World Cup final in New Zealand, that we lose by one point or that we have to win. We will say that the context makes us lose this match, but rugby, that day, we are better than them. Afterwards, the France team had its ups and downs, we took 50 in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2015.
Of the 23 French on the scoresheet, they are six to have faced the All Blacks without ever having won. Is the feat still possible?
She can do it because over the ten years, in virtually every position, Blacks were better than us. There, now, we really have a generation with quality players in important positions, Antoine Dupont, Matthieu Galibert, Romain Ntamack, Damien Penaud. In front of it is solid, it is warrior. Blacks don’t like playing against teams with stronger packs than them. This is currently the case for the France team.
“We currently have better players in this generation than some Blacks in certain positions.”
Guy Accoceberry, former rugby internationalto franceinfo
So that’s what can make the difference and maybe bring a victory. After that, of course, it’s not just the individualities, the collective has to be ready.
Can this French team under construction transcend itself?
Yes of course. When facing the Blacks, we are always afraid of losing and losing well, so automatically, we rely more on the collective than on individualities. Then you have to find the right balance between the two. I think the France team is finding it, but haven’t fully found it yet. As we have seen in the last two games, there are still things to improve. It takes 80 minutes. You have to be better offensively. All this, it will have to be at the top tonight to be able to win. But above all, it will allow us to see where we stand in relation to the Blacks. If we win, of course, that will be a step forward because this team needs to win titles, needs great victories. It would be a great victory that could put them on the right track for 2023.