Young talent stars as France stun New Zealand with big win at Perth SVNS
Rising star Theo Forner has been described as “one of the most naturally talented players” in the French sevens setup after their big win over the All Blacks Sevens in Perth.
Forner, 22, had only represented France at nine tournaments before taking the field at HBF Park on Friday afternoon. But it might’ve been his best performance in the famed blue jersey.
Drawn in a pool of death alongside New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa, the Frenchman shot out of the blocks with a statement 33-17 win over the All Blacks Sevens on Australia’s west coast.
Forner opened the scoring in just the second minute and the youngster added another score on either side of the break to secure a headline-grabbing hat-trick for France.
New Zealand couldn’t hold on. It wasn’t even that close in the end with a try to Cody Vai in the 16th minute making the score a tad more respectable for the reigning world champions.
“It feels amazing for us. The last three or four times we’ve played each other it’s been really close and they’ve edged in front,” Frenchman Aaron Grandidier Nkanang told RugbyPass.
“For us to have a good win like this today really puts us in good stead for the rest of the competition.
“I’m so proud of him,” he added when asked about teammate Theo Forner.
“Theo is one of the most naturally talented players we have on the team so when we get to see him express himself like that, it brings us a smile to all of our faces.”
It’s an important win for Les Bleus who continue to stamp their mark on the new-look SVNS Series after a slow start in Dubai last month.
France secured a ninth-place finish with a win over Great Britain in the desert before bouncing back with an improved showing in Cape Town a week later.
But it’s all leading to the Paris Olympics in six months. Franc are the hosts and they’ll be eager to put on a show when they take the field at Stade de France.
By then, France’s 15s star Antoine Dupont is expected to be among their ranks. The former World Rugby Player of the Year joined the squad in camp earlier this month for the first time.
“Any player or member of staff has to do a little initiation for us. It’s not anything particularly strange, it’s just 10 burpees,” Grandidier Nkanang said.
“He just did his burpees and we had him for the rest of the day.
“It was nice to get to meet him, to get to know him a bit better because obviously, I’ve only known him from the TV.
“I’m excited to see what he can bring to the team.”
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Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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