OPINION
Gregor Paul in Paris
France runs on a happy chaos, a sort of anarchic energy where no one knows the rules – if there are any – and yet it functions more effectively than those nations which believe in militant bureaucracy and micro-management.
A drive through Paris is in many ways the metaphor for French life: no one observes the speed limit, no one stays in their lane, motorbikes weave through the traffic at terrifying speeds, but it all flows effortlessly and without incident.
And most of the cars are French-made, because this is a nation that is loyal to its brands and its heritage.
There is an unmistakable pride and passion at the core of France – maybe understandably given the people took control of their country with the sort of proactive verve and elan that has been lost in the United Kingdom and its former colonies.
France is brilliantly different, hard-wired in a way that outsiders don’t always get and the All Blacks are going to feel like pilgrims in a strange land for however long they remain in this tournament.
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This is not a country of flat whites and “eggs Benny”. The French aren’t obsessed about the price of their houses, they eat a proper lunch – not a sandwich over their laptop - and they don’t think working long hours is a badge of honour.
If the All Blacks are to win this World Cup, they will have to not only produce their best and most consistent rugby of the past four years but also become Francophiles – at ease with the chaos of life in France.
France must become a place where they can feel at one with the world because unsettled teams pining for home don’t win World Cups.
Champions don’t come to foreign lands looking for the familiar – the domestic comforts they are used to – and then sulk when they can’t find it.
The statistics overwhelmingly prove how hard it is to succeed on foreign soil. The home nation has won three times and made the final on another three occasions.
The All Blacks are not good travellers. They don’t have a history of adjusting to life on the road and have struggled at offshore World Cups.
Two of their titles came in New Zealand and the other in England – a country which speaks the same language and has a strong element of cultural affinity.
In 2007, the All Blacks never settled in France. They were too used to life in their high-performance bubble, too set in their Kiwi ways to adapt to the different pace of life and the culinary nuances of France.
They bombed out in the quarter-final that year and potentially, such a fate awaits them again if they don’t embrace the quirks of France, but also if they fail to understand the heightened state of emotion in the country right now and the intensity of pressure this tournament is going to produce.
Rugby World Cup 2023 will be nothing like the 2007 version when it was last held in France.
The tournament 16 years ago didn’t have the support or energy of this one.
In 2007 the French had bid for the World Cup more to stop England getting it rather than by a driving passion to be hosts and they even bought votes from Scotland and Wales by allowing them to both host a couple of games each.
But the 2023 tournament is in France because they went after it with big money – enough to persuade the council members to ignore World Rugby’s independent recommendation to vote for South Africa.
The French want to showcase their country – their ecologically friendly trains and their state-of-the-art stadia.
The Olympics are coming in 2024 and this is all part of a plan for France to prove to the world it can indeed run a hybrid economy under capitalist principles but socialist values.
And just how much they want to win this tournament can’t be underestimated.
Coach Fabien Galthie took the job in 2020 knowing his mission was to rebuild a new, young, vibrant French team to win the 2023 World Cup.
He’s found new heroes, none more brilliant than captain Antoine Dupont whose face appears to adorn every billboard in Paris, every poster on the Metro and who is now considered the second most influential man in France behind President Emmanuel Macron.
The French have fallen in love with Galthie’s team, partly because they are winning more than they have, but because they represent modern France.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones was dangerously close to racial stereotyping when he suggested that Galthie’s team have preserved traditional French traits of flair and creativity but married them with the grit and work ethic of the country’s immigrant population – but he was on to something with that.
There’s a hard edge about France now and a confidence, diversity and unity that the whole country relates to, which is why almost two million match tickets have been sold for this tournament, 80 per cent of them to locals.
The first tangible indication of how much the French are behind this tournament and their team will come in the opening game and the All Blacks think, or at least hope, they have a sense of what is heading their way in the opening encounter.
“This game is special in its own right,” said head coach Ian Foster. “This is my third World Cup and I have never seen a build-up for a game like this one.
“I have never seen people put so much on it. The fact that it is a home nation who have got strong expectations of winning it and whose public have got strong expectations about winning it and it is against a team that I suspect the public have a lot of respect for, so it is well scripted.
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“It’s a passionate country, very much a rugby country and it is one of the best stadiums in the world and their ability to create an occasion is pretty special. Turn up tomorrow night and I think you will feel that.”
But the All Blacks thought they knew what was coming at them the last time they played in Paris, and they were 24-6 down at half-time, having been blown away by the passion and intensity they encountered.
It was a sobering night for the All Blacks, one which saw them lose 40-25, but perhaps it was also a game that saw expectations change and create a new dynamic of France now being the favourites – which as much as it can be a galvanising force, could also be crushing for the home side.
“I think there is no doubt there is a lot of pressure on them being the hosts,” said Foster. “How they respond to that… I am not sure.
“The only thing we can control, we have to make sure we pressure them and play our game and not get caught up in the emotion of the crowd and their expectations.
“It is no stranger to us - expectation. It is one area we as a team have prepared well – how we deal with the pressure. But this particular group, we have to grow under World Cup pressure and it is different.”
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