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Two prominent French players have struck back at All Blacks coach Graham Henry, believing he has shown the tourists a lack of respect by calling them negative.
Fullback Thomas Castaignede and No 8 Sebastien Chabal produced some angry counter-rucking in the direction of Henry yesterday, believing he was out of line to accuse France of faking injuries and using slow-down tactics at scrum time in last weekend's first test.
Castaignede, who has worn the blue of France for more than a decade, said he would use the comments as motivation in Saturday's second test at Westpac Stadium as the depleted French set out to improve on their 42-11 first-up loss.
Castaignede said: "The All Blacks don't seem to be happy at the moment. We respect them a lot because they are a very good team but they cannot dictate to everybody what the other team have to do. We're going to show them on the pitch that we deserve a bit more respect than what they give to us."
Henry said gamesmanship was creeping into rugby from teams who can't match the skill levels of the All Blacks. The spectacle was suffering from those who sought ways to slow down the game.
Castaignede said: "We didn't slow the game. It wasn't a tactic, it's only in your mind ... People were shaken by some of the impacts but me and the other players would have loved the game to go a bit quicker.
"I hope it won't be something the All Blacks can speak about next week."
Rugged loose forward Chabal was equally dismissive of Henry's claims, saying any injury breaks on Saturday were for legitimate reasons.
He also felt his front row suffered through not adjusting to the scrum engagement calls of Australian referee Stuart Dickinson and therefore were on the back foot from the "hit".
Chabal said: "Because they are the best team in the world at the moment they can say what the other teams must do.
"We did our best in scrums and I think they anticipate a bit the engagement in the scrum and nobody tells us.
"I can tell you we didn't cheat once, we tried to do our best, that's it."
Castaignede was already angered by what he felt was an unfair attitude towards the French players since they arrived in New Zealand. They are largely second-and third-choice players because the leading lights are involved in French club rugby playoffs.
"It's political problems ... it's not really ours ... When I heard some of the things on the TV 'oh, the French come with a C team'. If there had been the semifinals of the Super 14, I'm not sure that the All Blacks would have brought the same team to France."
He believed his team would be better for the time together this week, having endured just a three-day buildup to the first week.
"Everybody in New Zealand and France thinks we're going to be hammered.
"We've shown that we've got some spirit. Being an All Black means a lot but being a French player means a lot."
- NZPA
