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Watch: All Blacks Sevens destroyed by France's 'new' 6'5 Antoine
By Ben Smith
The All Blacks Sevens have been crushed 47-15 by Olympic champions France which ended their semi-final hopes in Cape Town in the second leg of the SVNS series.
New Zealand's men squeezed past USA in their pool opener by 19-17, but facing a new look France team they were pasted with Castres centre Antoine Zeghdar the chief destroyer.
The 25-year-old looked dangerous early pulling off a long line break down the All Blacks right edge. His next touch was a piece of play Dupont would be proud of, pulling off a no-look offload behind his back Quade-style.
The pass put Stephen Parez Edo Martin in for the opening try. Zeghdar had his second try assist moments later with a deft touch promoting the ball under pressure.
A tackle from Zeghdar forced an errant pass from New Zealand, which France scooped up and scored through Liam Delamare put France up 19-0 before an assist from Delamore added more misery at 28-0 before half-time.
Zeghdar proved unstoppable stepping inside Ng Shiu and offloading in the next tackle to set up another for France.
France play Fiji in the semi-finals, while upstarts Spain face South Africa in the other in the men's draw.
The All Blacks Sevens will playoff for 5th-8th
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Latest Comments
Ah dw. When will these teams be named ffs
Go to commentsLeinster actually do need it to go well for them this weekend. The alternative wouldn’t be a good look for them in light of a fully loaded LR squeaking past Toulouse’s 2nd string last week and it would significantly undermine progress with their new defensive game plan under JN. It would also put them in the mixer with away CC ko ties given that they could feasibly lose again the following week to Bath.
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