The pools have been drawn and the odds are in. Here's what you need to know ahead of kickoff on September 9. Video / NZ Herald
Hundreds of Les Bleus fans will pack out a central Auckland restaurant as the French rugby team squares off with the All Blacks tomorrow morning.
The gathering will serve as an outpost of blue, red and white in a city that will otherwise swarm with black, as New Zealand fans flock to bars across Auckland from as early as 6am to watch the opening game of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
And the clash between red-hot France and perennial powerhouses the All Blacks promises to be a fierce one.
Yves-Louis Dorsemaine - the head of French language and culture centre Alliance Francaise Auckland - says French fans are buying into the hype surrounding Antoine Dupont’s men.
“We’ve got a very, very good team this year, we’ve got a good chance to win,” he told the Herald.
“My feeling about the World Cup this year is that it’s getting much more popular than back in 2007.
“I assume the reason is because the French team is much more friendly, and much more competitive, and the way they play is very, very French.”
Alliance Francaise has organised a live broadcast of the game at the Wynyard Pavilion restaurant in the Wynard Quarter in the central city on Saturday morning.
“We wanted something central, we wanted to get something family-friendly so that people can come with their kids, something with light, open - if the weather’s nice you can even watch the TV outside,” Dorsemaine said.
All Blacks fans can also come along, but Dorsemaine suspects the French will likely be in the majority.
“We will be a bit more than 400 people, most of them should be French, but we obviously welcome our Kiwi friends and we will have probably 100 or 150 Kiwis with us,” he said.
Tickets can be booked for tomorrow’s event via the Alliance Francaise website.
Meanwhile, co-owner of Pt Chevalier’s Little French Cafe and this year’s New Zealand Pastry Chef winner, Ben Chevre, has devised Rugby World Cup “couch supporter boxes” to help fans get behind Les Bleus.
Chevre says the couch supporter boxes are “little French fixes”.
They contain pastry treats and sweets for Les Bleus rugby fans to tuck into while they cheer on their national team.
Yves-Louis Dorsemaine, director of Alliance Francaise Auckland, says the French fans will be gathering at the Auckland waterfront to cheer on their team tomorrow morning. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Francophiles can order the deluxe brekkie online or pick up the fast-selling “fixes” from their Mt Albert pop-up store or Pt Chevalier shop.
The Little French Cafe stores will be confidently “decorated for a French victory”, Chevré said.
All Blacks fans, meanwhile, will be swarming into nearby pubs.
Matt from The Fox bar in the Viaduct said his team is opening bright and early at 6am ahead of the 7.30am kickoff.
“We’re already fully booked out so we’re expecting a really good crowd,” he said.
“I’d say it’s almost exclusively going to be Kiwis - I’m sure there will be a few French sprinkled in there - but I don’t think it’s gonna be anything but a good home team crowd.”
He’s expecting a busy next few weeks, with The Fox set to be open all World Cup.
“We’re going to be open for literally every single one of the World Cup games. We encourage everyone to come down, it should be a good time.”
The Cav on College Hill Rd in Ponsonby is also fully booked, a staff member told the Herald.
She said most of the bookings are from regulars, who knew to get in early and reserve a table.
“It’s gonna be an early, busy one,” she said.
Well-known publican Leo Molloy is also expecting tonnes of excitement from the World Cup.
But he’s also worried about fans spending all night out drinking ahead of games, due to the time difference of matches being played in host nation France.
“I’m a bit worried about 7 o’clock in the morning drinking Heinekens and then by 8.30am-9am it could be a s*** show,” he told the Herald.
“Some bars trade right through to 5am-6am in the morning and we don’t want them spilling out of one bar blind drunk and then wandering over to ours,” he said.
Molloy also said in a social media post that it’s a big weekend of sport ahead.
That includes tomorrow morning’s All Blacks game, the Warriors’ NRL finals match in the afternoon, and then Kiwi UFC champ Israel Adesanya fighting on Sunday.
“It’s a massive weekend, but we want you to think carefully about how you are going to behave, please,” Molloy said.
Acting Auckland Mayor Desley Simpson wished the All Blacks the best on behalf of the city. Mayor Wayne Brown is in Paris as a guest of Valerie Pecresse, the president of the regional council of the capital city, for the match.
“Rugby World Cup games against the French are always tough and this will be no exception,” Simpson said.
For live commentary of All Blacks v France, join Elliott Smith on Newstalk ZB, Gold Sport and iHeartRadio.
You can watch the game on Sky Sport 1 and live streaming on Sky Sport Now; an alternative commentary option from the Alternative Commentary Collective is available on iHeartRadio and Radio Hauraki.
