Lee Stensness: Inconsistent French biggest test for ABs

Opinion

Of the four tests the All Blacks will play on their end-of-year tour, it is the middle two against France that loom as the most difficult. However, as it has been said in the past and will no doubt be repeated many times in the lead-up to both these games, success or failure for the All Blacks depends on which French team turns up.

This type of cliche has been applied to the Tricolour, and indeed French teams in general, almost since time immemorial.

While this sounds similar to the gripe of potential domestic test match attendees in New Zealand when referring to the All Blacks and their rotation policy, it actually refers to the Jekyll and Hyde personality of the French national team.

Having played three seasons in France it was easy for me to see why a reputation for inconsistency dogs French teams - it is because they are. The reason behind this inconsistency is their reliance on emotional intensity to produce a quality performance.

Essentially, the difference between playing a French team, club or country, at their home ground or away is like the difference between fighting Tarzan or Jane. The sense of pride and duty of a home crowd gives a French team an emotional fillip that focuses the players as individuals and galvanises them as a collective.

On the other hand, when they play away, the polar opposite occurs in that players and teams go through the motions, take their beating and get on the bus home.

That's the way it works in France: The home team wins, and everyone stays happy with this unwritten rule because it means everyone gets their share of victories and the defeats are away from home and, as such, can be dismissed.

As a result, when a team play at home, the players are motivated and focused, then the next week when playing away they are not.

Thus French players become conditioned to inconsistency as they are not used to the pressure and expectation of performing consistently week in and week out, regardless of the location or previous result. They, therefore, find it difficult to back up, even when playing again at home.

This conditioned inconsistency is reflected in the results of two-match series between the All Blacks and France in France; four of the six series have been split 1-1, and the All Blacks won the other two series where one of the tests has been close, the other not.

It goes some way to explaining why France have the ability to win epic World Cup semifinals one week then get comprehensively beaten in the final the next, as was the case in 1987 and 1999.

Within all this Gallic inconsistency there is at least one constant: In one, and probably only one of the two tests, France will turn up to play. The question the All Blacks have to contend with is which one.