Wellington against international teams: versus France 1984

Match Details

Result: France 38 – Wellington 18
When: 9 June 1984
Weather: Fine, with a strong northerly
Crowd: 30,000

The Tour

Expect the unexpected. The catch-cry of the Hurricanes – but also of French rugby teams. These was none more so than on their New Zealand tour in 1984 and in particular on their one and only visit to Wellington that saw them smoke home team in the second half and win by 20 points.

This was a very good French side that toured New Zealand throughout June 1984, winning all six provincial matches and pushing the All Blacks close in both their Tests in Christchurch and Auckland.

France had finished second to Scotland in the previous winter’s Five Nations Championship and their squad featured eight players who had toured New Zealand in 1979, including hooker and captain Philippe Dintrans, first five-eighth Guy Laporte and fullback Serge Blanco, and several players who would feature in the 1987 Rugby World Cup and beyond such as halfback Pierre Berbizier and centre Phillipe Sella.

France started their tour off in New Plymouth with a four tries to nil 30-18 win over Taranaki. This was followed by a six tries to nil win over Marlborough and then this five tries to nil win over Wellington. Following this match they headed to Otago and beat the home team 20-10 – conceding their first try. Thus in the lead-up to the First Test they had scored 18 tries to the opposition’s one – with 16 of their tries scored through the backs.

The All Blacks held on desperately to win the first Test 10-9, after Blanco had chipped and chased and scored his own try, whilst the French backs went on another rampage against Hawke’s Bay, scoring all six tries in a 40-18 win. Wellington’s Allan Hewson kicked five penalties in the All Blacks’ 31-18 second Test win, while France rounded off their visit by beating Counties 33-24.

The Match

Whilst this match was played in early June, Wellington had already played five representative matches, and the week before they had opened their 1984 NPC campaign against Canterbury, losing 18-25.

After brushing past the previous year’s second division champions Taranaki and then Marlborough, this match was predicted to be much tougher for the French and the tourists were billing this as an unofficial ‘third’ Test. For their part, their lineout (against Taranaki) and their scrum (against Marlborough) had been heavily criticised in their two openers. Wellington weren’t as strong as they’d been in the early 1980s, but they had still finished second in the 1983 NPC.

Wellington’s All Blacks included Hewson (Petone), Bernie Fraser (Hutt Valley Marist), Murray Mexted (Wellington), Scott Crichton (Western Suburbs) and Brian McGrattan (Marist St Pat’s). Mike Clamp (Petone) and Murray Pierce (Wellington) were to tour with the All Blacks to Australia later in the season.

Hewson, Fraser and Mexted were Wellington’s three survivors from the Wellington team that had lost to France 9-14 on their previous visit in 1979.

The match started promisingly for Wellington, who almost scored a try in the opening exchanges through Fraser who chased up a kick that just beat him into touch. Fraser had just been dropped from the All Blacks for the first Test coming up and he had told the Dominion on the eve of his clash that he was “fired up” and keen for “Wellington to produce the goods.”

Instead, France, with the wind in the first half, took a 3-0 lead with a penalty.

Wellington then lost Hewson to injury midway through the first half after fielding a high kick and being crunched, replaced at fullback by Evan Hopkin (Wellington FC). Hopkin had scored four tries and 25 points for the Axemen in a Swindale Shield match the previous Monday.

France scored the game’s opening try on 30 minutes to move ahead 9-0.

Just before halftime, France gave Hopkin the same high kick and chase treatment as they’d given Hewson and Hopkin was also barrelled. France turned the ball over and his opposite Blanco cut through to score to put the visitors ahead 15-3.

Wellington won a penalty on halftime and Hopkin closed the deficit to 15-3 at the turnaround.
Wellington first five-eighth Mark Bracewell opened the second half scoring with a dropped goal to cut France’s lead to 15-6 and Hopkin kicked his second penalty to make it 15-9. Both sides exchanged further penalties and the score was advanced to 18-15 in favour of France.

But that was as close as Wellington got.

Wellington halfback Neil Sorenson (Marist St Pat’s) and No. 8 Mexted collided trying to field a kick and the French backs dashed in for the first of three consecutive tries to take the game away from the home side.

Wellington inched closer when Hopkin kicked his fifth and final penalty, but future 100-Test centre Sella ran in yet another try at the end to record a comprehensive victory.

The Dominion proclaimed afterwards that “the French were magic, swooping like jet planes, backing up and running on to passes with classical timing. Old timers present agreed that the backs were the slickest lot ever to tour New Zealand.”

“From an 18-15 lead, they bolted in four more tries, all of them glittering prizes.”

Wellington went on to finish fourth in the NPC in 1984, but a highlight of a less than memorable season for Wellington was their 22-18 win over Auckland – the only team to beat that year’s champions.

The Teams

Wellington: 1. B.McGrattan, 2. D.R. Mahanga, 3. S. Crichton, 4. M.J.Pierce 5. G.L. Wilkinson 6. G.F. Duffy,7. D.A. Williams, 8. M.G.Mexted, 9.N.A. Sorenson,10. M.A Bracewell, 11. M.Clamp, M.C.Wollett, 13, A.W. Pollock, 14. B.G. Fraser, 15. A.R. Hewson

France: 1.J-P. Garuet, 2. P. Dintrans, 3, P. Dospital, 4. J-L. Joinel, 5. F. Haget, 6. J. Condom, 7. L. Rodriguez, 8. J.C. Orso, 9. P. Berbizier, 10. J-P. Lescarboura, 11. D. Cordorniou, 12. P.Lagisquet, 13. P. Sella, 14. P. Esteve, 15. S.Blanco 

The Players

Western Suburbs openside flanker Dirk Williams had made his debut off the bench late in the previous Saturday’s loss to Canterbury. This match was his full debut for Wellington, after previously appearing for Otago for three seasons and playing for the New Zealand U21s in 1981. Williams sustained an ear injury during this game against France, but, along with lock Gerard Wilkinson and No. 8 Mexted, proclaimed as the best of the Wellington forwards.

Williams played for Wellington for five seasons between 1984-88 and was part of the squad that won the NPC in 1986 and very close to All Blacks selection if not for a young sensation called Michael Jones that was picked instead. Williams moved to Australia, before moving to Australia and playing against the All Blacks for a Victorian selection in 1992 and also against the touring Springboks. He was picked for the Wallabies as a replacement and played one touring match in Scotland in 1991.

Wellington wings Fraser and Mike Clamp, who later moved to France where he still lives, were kept quiet, while replacement Hopkin displayed “calm courage” in his first test at the top level. Clamp and Fraser had scored 13 of Wellington’s 17 tries between them in Wellington’s first four matches of 1984.

Wellington competed strongly in the forwards for much of the match. Wilkinson’s locking partner was Murray Pierce, who was selected by the All Blacks to tour Australia and Fiji later in this season. From South Canterbury and a serving police officer at the time, Pierce played eight matches on tour. He made his Test debut the following year against England and went on to play 26 Tests including the 29-9 win over France in the Rugby World Cup final. Pierce was a hard working lineout forward who also helped the Wellington Axemen to Jubilee Cup titles in 1985 and 1987 and the Wellington Lions to the NPC title in 1986. Pierce played 102 first-class matches for Wellington between 1982-90, and also had a stint playing in Natal in South Africa late in his career.

References

· The Dominion and Evening Post newspapers, June 1984
· WRFU. The Winds of Change: Wellington’s Rugby History Part 3 1979-2004. WRFU, 2004.
· The Visitors - The History of International Rugby Teams in New Zealand by Rod Chester, Neville McMillan. MOA Publications, Auckland, 1990
· The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Rugby By Ron Palenski, Rod Chester, Neville McMillan. Hodder Moa Beckett, Auckland 1998
· Photo credit: The Dominion, 11 June 1984