WASHINGTON, October 23, 2011—New Zealand and France dragged a long history of Rugby World Cup drama into the final showdown at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, but few thought the All Blacks would have trouble downing a French team they drubbed in the pool stage. In the end, though it wasn’t easy. New Zealand prevailed in front of a rabid home crowd, topping 8-7 a resilient, and at times dominant, French squad. New Zealand loosehead prop Tony Woodcock scored the All Blacks’ only try, the first in a Rugby World Cup final since 2003. Fourth-string fly-half Steven Donald added the deciding penalty goal early in the second half.
The All Blacks started off dominating possession, game flow, territory and tempo, but couldn’t convert their efforts into points, with scrum-half Piri Weepu continuing to struggle with the boot. France’s defense buckled, but held firm until the fifteenth minute, when a failed attempt at a lineout steal less than five meters out from their own try line led to Woodcock’s simple diving try. France continued to struggle throughout the first half, receiving a major blow when fly-half Morgan Parra left the match in the 23rd minute with an apparent concussion after ending up on the wrong end of a collision with New Zealand captain Richie McCaw. Despite their steady domination anchored by the back-line quartet of Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith, Cory Jane and Israel Dagg, the All Blacks couldn’t extend their lead, as Weepu first missed a conversion attempt and then another penalty chance.
Adding to New Zealand’s misery, Parra’s injury lit a fire under the French side, and his replacement, François Trinh-Duc, took off on a series of penetrating runs deep into All Black territory. Still, New Zealand’s slim 5-0 lead remained intact up to the half after Trinh-Duc narrowly missed a drop goal attempt.
As in 1999, when France stunned the All Blacks in the semifinals after recovering from a halftime deficit, Les Bleus came out firing. The French quickly drew a penalty, but Dimitri Yachvili’s angled attempt was a hair off-target, and the All Blacks were able to extend their lead to 8-0 moments later with Donald’s short-range effort.
But France simply wouldn’t go away, scoring their only points of the game less than two minutes later when breaks from Trinh-Duc and inside centre Maxime Mermoz led to captain Thierry Dusautoir barreling over for a try, subsequently converted by Trinh Duc. At that point, with over 30 minutes to go in the match, it hardly seemed possible that the score would remain at 8-7 until the end, but it did, despite the best efforts of France, who dominated the second half overall.
Indeed, for the rest of the game it was a story of physicality, with France pushing and pushing but continually coming up just short, whether by a penalty against, an ill-timed knock-on, or a missed kick. With just a few minutes to go, France looked almost destined to score, stringing together an immense possession. But, alas for Les Bleus, an errant pass pushed them out of drop-goal range, and fresh New Zealand legs took over to run out the clock, and win the Webb Ellis Cup.
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