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MARSEILLE - There were no tips about how to win a World Cup but retired French soccer great Zinedine Zidane still held the All Blacks enthralled here today.
Regarded by many as the greatest footballer of his generation, Marseille-born Zidane joined six All Blacks players and a group of French children for a promotion at their hotel which climaxed with a goalkicking contest against New Zealand star Daniel Carter.
For the record, the final score was 2-2, with Carter's deadly left boot matched by the magical right of Zidane as both aimed three kicks at a small set of goalposts floating 20m offshore in the Mediterranean Sea.
"To have a chance to meet him and have a kick around with him is a pretty awesome feeling," Carter said.
"It was a great experience. I've obviously grown up watching Zinedine on TV and admiring his play."
There was byplay between the pair, sparked by Carter's assessment that the star of the 1998 World Cup-winning French team had some "room for improvement" with his goalkicking.
A smiling Zidane suggested a football match was planned for the afternoon, to which Carter hurriedly pointed out he had All Blacks training to attend.
"He'd show me up with the soccer ball, I'm sure he could teach me a thing or two," the Canterbury first five-eighth admitted.
The man known as "Zizou" was magnanimous when asked if Carter's status in rugby matched his in his prime on the world soccer stage.
"Maybe that's true," Zidane said through a translator.
"I'm particularly impressed by Daniel's technique for the drop kick, not so much the penalties."
Zidane, who stressed to French journalists that he would be supporting France over New Zealand during the tournament, said the physical nature of rugby was what he most admired.
"I'm very impressed by the relaxed attitude the players have. Today the players have been going 100 per cent kicking the ball. Whereas two days before a major soccer match you wouldn't do that, you'd be very careful," he said.
The session was run by All Blacks specialist skills coach Mick Byrne and also involved Byron Kelleher, Nick Evans, Luke McAlister, Aaron Mauger and Leon MacDonald.
Byrne described Zidane as a "natural", who easily learned the subtle difference between kicking soccer and rugby balls.
"I couldn't advise that man how to kick the ball," Byrne said.
"Our players were very impressed at the speed he kicks the ball. He generates a lot of power.
"He's a natural as you'd expect from one of the best football players in the world... it was never going to be an issue."
Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants, was a genius playmaker throughout an extended period of success for France from 1994 to 2006.
His two headed goals in the 1998 World Cup final in Paris represents the finest hour for the three-time world player of the year, who brought success to giant European clubs Juventus and Real Madrid.
Zidane's nadir came in the 2006 final when he shocked the world with a headbutt to the chest of Italian defender Macro Materazzi for which he was sent off before France went on to lose.
His action has caused division in France over whether he should be remembered as a hero or villain but he remains an adored figure in Marseille.
- NZPA
