Even in the face of mounting evidence that says the Six Nations is the rising force of the world game, New Zealand’s rugby public still seems inclined to make condescending assessments of the Northern Hemisphere’s collective rugby ability.
Embedded in this whole “France are disrespecting the game” indignance is an unspoken belief that they would be lucky to win a test with their best players, so it is clearly madness or recklessness to come to New Zealand without them.
It is the existence of this dismissive attitude that has prevented the rugby public and media experts from realising that France could leave 40 capped players at home and still bring a squad to New Zealand in July that wins the series.
This is a country with an insane depth of talent, as evidenced by the way they pulled Ireland apart at the weekend, winning 42-27 in Dublin.
This is a country that has beaten the All Blacks three times in the past four years and used 38 different players in the process.
The French were all geared up to win their own World Cup in 2023 and when they bombed out in the quarter-final, there was a sense that a wildly gifted generation of players may be condemned to never fulfil their potential.
But given the way the French have played in recent months, and the volume of players they continue to unearth, it feels like they are amid a second coming that will see them build a squad to get the job done in 2027.
The brilliance of Galthie’s well-considered decision to undersell the merits of his likely tour party, is that it has put all the pressure on the All Blacks when the series kicks off in July.
Robertson is too smart to be lulled into any false sense of security, but the public has already bought this idea that it is an unlosable series – an opportunity for the All Blacks to play around with their selections and trial new strategic initiatives, safe in the knowledge the series is a gimme against a rag-tag, second-rate French crew.
But this is a series New Zealand can’t win, rather than one they can’t lose.
Expectation is already so ridiculously high, that the All Blacks will need to not just beat France three times in July to satisfy their fan base that they are trending in the right direction, but they will need to do so with shock-and-awe performances that leave the visitors in a state of ruin.
Galthie has expertly manipulated the Kiwi public and media into being willing stooges to work against the All Blacks and leave his French team as the best-placed underdogs in history to win a series in New Zealand.
Just how much France believe in themselves and their ability to win in New Zealand – with or without their superstar contingent – was evidenced in December last year when they rejected a proposal to play one of the three tests in the United States.
The French cited player welfare reasons for not wanting to start the series in California, but it is more likely they didn’t want to deny themselves a crack at making history on New Zealand soil.
Why play at a neutral venue when the French can open the series in Dunedin? Under the Forsyth Barr roof, they can use the hard ground and guaranteed dry ball to play their free-flowing, bruising brand of rugby and potentially turn the home crowd against the home team.
Were it not for a strangely inaccurate performance against England a few weeks ago, France would be chasing a Grand Slam in Paris this weekend.
But as it is, they will likely still be crowned Six Nations champions and no matter which French players get on the plane to New Zealand in a few months, the All Blacks will be doing well to beat them.
