Wynne Gray: Stade sets the scene, possibly for final time

About coffee and croissant time tomorrow, the All Blacks will meet France for what may be the last time at the Stade de France.

The French extol the charms of the ground in the Saint Denis setting and the Metro service provides a decent connection for the 81,000 capacity crowds.

You get a good view but a fair way back because of the running track on the outside of the field.

High rents, competing fixtures or concerts mean the All Blacks and France have played only four times at the stadium since it was opened in the late '90s in time for the Fifa World Cup.

The All Blacks should have played there again in 2007 but we know what happened when they played the tournament hosts in Cardiff in a certain quarter-final.

Small profits mean the FFR decided not to renew their Stade de France licence and they want to develop an area they have bought 25km south of Paris, into a national rugby stadium.

On three of their four Stade de France meetings the All Blacks have won comfortably, while their other clash was the 20-all stalemate in 2002.

Andrew Hore started that test and Keven Mealamu was a reserve while Tony Woodcock was also in the tour party, one which had been stripped of most of its seniority with 21 players left at home to get sorted for the next World Cup.

Three All Blacks - Kees Meeuws, Mark Robinson and Christian Cullen - were sent to the naughty chair by referee Scott Young, but the inexperienced group managed to cling on for a draw.

Tomorrow's All Blacks, we are told, are the most experienced to have started a test. Some of them will still get twitchy before the match and there may be skyrocket and cockerel interruptions from some of the more zealous fans.

What will be in evidence will be the Gallic voices and their enthusiasm for the occasion.

Most accept they will watch their national team disappear through the trapdoor once again, which will ratchet up the heat even more on coach Philippe Saint-Andre.

But the supporters are there for the occasion, the train ride and walk past the stalls laden with souvenirs, programmes and memorabilia, the steaming hot coffee or soup and baguettes laden with sausage, onions and mustard.

Stade de France does not have the raucous atmosphere of La Rochelle, Marseilles or Toulon but it draws colour and commitment from its constituents and that is half the attraction.