All Blacks expect more muscle than hustle

All Blacks in France

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Fans gather as All Blacks Brad Thorn, Tony Woodcock, Luke McAlister, Ma'a Nonu, Jimmy Cowan and Dan Carter attend a shirt signing session at an adidas store in Marseille.

All Blacks add muscle and experience

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Mils Muliaina is a realist first and optimist second. So while he'd love to think Sunday's test against France could unleash a bonanza of attacking play, he's pretty sure the opposite will occur.

The man who's now the second most capped All Black of all time warns that this final test of the All Blacks year, against France at the Stade Velodrome (kickoff 8.45am Sunday, NZ time), could become more attrition than exhibition; more about muscle than hustle.

Stuff.co.nz will have the latest coverage of the All Blacks-France match on Sunday, including match report and analysis, photos and video.

And he's probably right.

Muliaina, who will be playing his ninth test against the French, makes no apologies for his pragmatic prediction. It is what it is, says the classy Waikato and Chiefs fullback, when the stakes are as high as they are this weekend.

The All Blacks, to a man, have embraced the concept that this test defines their year. Or at least that they must win it to take any satisfaction from a campaign that's seen them beaten four times already.

They are one test from completing yet another perfect northern tour – they have yet to lose on one of these trips under Graham Henry – and are also 80 minutes away from going a second straight autumn series without having their line crossed. Remarkable.

Yet the French are positively fizzing after their impressive victory over the world champion Springboks in Toulouse. They rightfully eye this as a chance to secure supremacy over the two best teams in the south, and to claim the unofficial title of champion of the hemispheres. Let's not forget, either, they've won two of their past three tests against the All Blacks.

And the way they bashed the Boks, taking them on physically and wearing them down, suggested a pretty physical confrontation looms for the New Zealanders.

It's why Muliana is reticent about the New Zealanders' chances of finally shaking off those attacking shackles and "cutting loose". They have, it should be noted, scored just one try in each of their past three tests up here – all victories.

"We stepped up bit in the English test, and we've just got to keep working on making sure we're taking the right options," said Muliaina. "But from what I've seen of the French team we're going to get limited opportunities, and certainly we've got to take them all.

"The way they played against South Africa who are big and strong and physical, they came back well after halftime and pulled away in the end. It's going to be a tough battle.

"Obviously the talk is all about scoring more points, more tries, and you'd like to hope that could be the case. But I think it's going to be a very tight match.

"We all want to play expansive rugby, but the reality is there's a lot of pressure out there and there's other guys just as up to the task defending you. The key is to make really good decisions."

The All Blacks completed a sharp Thursday training session with the Marseille sun beating down on their backs on a rock-hard training surface at the contentious Stade Jean Bouin. But they got through their work well, and Ma'a Nonu had finally recovered sufficiently from his bruised thigh to take a full part.

"We're building nicely," added Muliaina who moves one past Justin Marshall with his 82 test cap this weekend.

"We showed signs today of starting to build a bit of momentum and hopefully on Saturday we can go out there and explode."

Muliaina, of course, has special reason to want to put these fractious French in their places. He was skipper earlier this year for the split 1-1 series in New Zealand, and its till hurts him to watch footage of two pretty sub-par performances from the All Blacks.

"Just some of the basic mistakes we were making. We didn't quite gel as a team in June. The French brought over an experienced team and they've gotten a lot better. But I think we've come a long way and we're a much better team now as well.

"We've just got to keep in the back of our minds how dangerous this French team really is."

And what's on the line.

"There's no doubting how big a game this is for us," added Muliaina. "There are a lot of motivating factors. The Dave Gallaher Trophy is really important to us, and we're desperate to take it home."

FRANCE: Damien Traille, Vincent Clerc, David Marty, Yannick Jauzion, Maxime Medard, Francois Trinh-Duc, Julien Dupuy; Julien Bonnaire, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Thierry Dusautoir (capt), Romain Millo-Chluski, Sebastien Chabal, Sylvain Marconnet, William Servat, Fabien Barcella. Reserves: Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas, Lionel Nallet, Julien Puricelli, Morgan Parra, Yann David, Cedric Heymans.

NEW ZEALAND: Mils Muliaina, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Dan Carter, Jimmy Cowan; Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (capt), Jerome Kaino, Tom Donnelly, Brad Thorn, Neemia Tialata, Andrew Hore, Tony Woodcock. Reserves: Corey Flynn, Owen Franks, Anthony Boric, Tanerau Latimer, Andy Ellis, Stephen Donald, Luke McAlister.

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland).

- © Fairfax NZ News