‘Greatest rivalry in World Cup history’: New Zealand to meet France in opener

New Zealand went into the 1999 Rugby World Cup as clear favourites. Everything was going to plan as Taine Randell’s men rolled through their pool matches, handling the English comfortably and putting 100 points on Italy. The biggest thing in rugby, winger Jonah Lomu, had already scored six tries by the time they reached the notorious semi-final.

Ian Borthwick, a New Zealand-born reporter for France’s sports newspaper “L’Equipe”, was there with the other 73,000 people at Twickenham Stadium in England. “On the day, there was nothing much to say,” Borthwick says. “[France] ran in something like 33 unanswered points in the second half, they really just blew New Zealand away.” 

Two more first-half tries to Lomu couldn’t stop the French onslaught. France won 43-31. Le miracle de Twickenham (“The Twickenham miracle”), as the French call it, is just one of many twists in what Borthwick says has become the “greatest rivalry in World Cup history”. 

Having played far more often against the All Blacks, South Africa is generally considered the team’s greatest rival. But, over the years, World Cup matches between New Zealand and France have been unpredictable, exciting and – depending on who you support – devastating. “They bring the best and the worst out of each other,“ says Borthwick.

Keeping it interesting

Les Bleus and the All Blacks met in the first-ever World Cup final on June 20, 1987 at Eden Park in Auckland. The match took place as off-the-field tensions between the countries had never been higher – two years earlier, two French agents had planted a bomb on the Greenpeace boat “Rainbow Warrior” docked in Auckland harbour, killing one person. The incident led to the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu. The All Blacks comfortably won the encounter 29-9.

As a thirteen-year-old, editor of Rugby Almanack and former Samoa national team member Campbell Burnes remembers watching the game on television. He says the buildup was particularly fierce because of recent memories of “the Battle of Nantes”, a surprise French victory in late 1986 considered t