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France against New Zealand still offers all that is holy in rugby union

Teams meet in Paris on Saturday having delivered brutality and artistry in some of the sport’s greatest games

It is France-New Zealand time again. These words should conjure a frisson in any rugby connoisseur – and, by and large, they do. There are other more intense rivalries – the All Blacks against South Africa or Australia, for example, or England against, well, anyone – but for the promise of all that is holy in union, the brutality and the artistry, nothing quite stirs the imagination like Saturday night’s encounter in Paris.

All the more so given it is a quarter of a century since the greatest France-New Zealand episode of them all – some say the greatest match, full stop. On Halloween 1999, a suitably portentous date, these two met at Twickenham in the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup. What unfolded, it hardly requires a student of the game to recall, was the sort of nightmare only the French seem capable of inflicting on the All Blacks, who saw their 24-10 lead early in the second half shapeshift into a scarcely believable 43-31 defeat.

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Lizzie Deignan to bow out in 2025: ‘I showed you can be a professional athlete and a mum’

  • British cyclist confirms retirement after 18th season
  • Deignan plans to continue to work in the sport

Lizzie Deignan, the London 2012 silver medallist and former world road race champion, has confirmed that 2025 will be her final year in the women’s peloton.

“Next year will be my final season,” said Deignan, who has moved back to her native Yorkshire after a long period based in Monaco. “It’s been a question that’s been asked of me, over and over, the last couple of years – ‘When are you going to retire?’ – and I have been thinking about it.”

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