Play-off pair take different approaches
Beaten semi-finalists New Zealand and France have taken vastly different approaches to Thursday’s World Cup third-place play-off.
All Blacks coach John Mitchell today made just one enforced change to the starting line-up beaten by Australia on Saturday.
With Justin Marshall out with rib damage following a late tackle from George Smith, Steve Devine comes in to start at scrum-half with Byron Kelleher again on the bench.
The only other alteration was on the bench, where the injured prop Kees Meeuws was replaced by Otago’s Carl Hoeft.
“This is a really important match for us as a group and it was important to stick with a proven combination,” said Mitchell.
“There is something to salvage and it is important that we finish the season on a high.
“This team has made some growth in 2003 and they still need development.
“We believe in these guys and the accountability and ownership is now back with them.”
Mitchell is attempting to go one better than at the last World Cup, where John Hart lost to South Africa in the play-off and resigned the following morning.
The All Blacks will have a good chance of victory given France coach Bernard Laporte made 13 changes to the starting XV that lost 24-7 to England on Sunday.
Dimitri Yachvili will start at scrum-half in place of Fabien Galthie, who withdrew from selection and has retired.
Flanker Serge Betsen faces a kicking charge and must go in front of a judiciary hearing tomorrow, and he too is out.
Prop Sylvain Marconnet and centre Tony Marsh are the only Frenchmen to retain their places.
Yannick Bru will captain the side while fly-half Frederic Michalak starts from the bench with Gerald Merceron given a run.
“It’s obviously a fairly reformed team from that of four days ago,” said manager Jo Maso.
“We’ve taken into account the reduced recuperation time plus there are five players unavailable for various reasons.
“The players we have chosen have all performed at the top level. They want to win.
“It is always a great honour to play the All Blacks. They set the standard for world rugby.”
Teams for World Cup third-place play-off:
NEW ZEALAND: M Muliaina; D Howlett, L MacDonald, A Mauger, J Rokocoko; C Spencer, S Devine; D Hewett, K Mealamu, G Somerville, C Jack, A Williams, R Thorne (capt), R McCaw, J Collins.
Replacements: M Hammett, C Hoeft, B Thorn, M Holah, B Kelleher, D Carter, C Ralph.
FRANCE: C Poitrenaud; P Elhorga, T Marsh, D Traille, D Bory; G Merceron, D Yachvili; S Marconnet, Y Bru (capt), J-P Poux, D Auradou, T Privat, P Tabacco, S Chabal, C Labit.
Replacements: R Ibanez, J-J Crenca, F Pelous, O Magne, F Michalak, B Liebenberg, N Brusque.
