All Blacks prop ready for France's tough love

All Blacks in France

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READY AND WAITING: All Blacks prop Neemia Tialata is expecting a torrid time up front against France in Marseille.

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The All Blacks coaches say they've shown him some "love", but it's fair to say Neemia Tialata is expecting a different sort of emotion from some gnarly Frenchmen here in Saturday night's final test of the year.

Tialata, the All Blacks tighthead prop, will be at the epicentre of the battle at the cauldron that is Stade Velodrome (8.45am kickoff Sunday, NZ time) as the French look to take the All Blacks on at the scrum.

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

Les Bleus dominated the Springboks there in Toulouse recently, and it was a big part of their famous 20-13 upset. They'll figure they can repeat the dose against an All Black set piece that even their own coaches concede is operating below expectations.

If they're coming – and Sylvain Marconnet, William Servat and Fabien Barcella assuredly are – then Tialata is ready for them.

"I have to be," he said after the team's final serious training hitout of the week in brilliant Marseille sunshine.

"This is going be the game of the tour and game of the year as well. It's 1-1 so far, and we've picked a team to combat what they're going to bring. It's going to be won or lost up front, just like every other week."

As is the norm in these things, Tialata knows the French will be pushing the boundaries as they look to exert their will in the scrum.

"Oh yeah, every team does that," shrugs the 127kg Wellingtonian, rated the All Blacks' premier scrummager. "They're pretty good up front, they've picked a team to bring the battle, and they'll want to target us up front. That's nothing new."

Tialata was praised by coach Graham Henry this week for fighting his way back in from the outer midway through the Tri-Nations, when he lost his No 3 jersey to Canterbury youngster Owen Franks.

"He's got himself in great shape – the best shape he's been in since he's been playing international rugby," Henry said. "He's looked after himself and made sure his weight is right. That's increased his agility and speed around the track.

"We've probably showed him a bit of love, and he likes that. But his challenge is to continue that and keep on improving."

Tialata has heard the message, and it's fully understood.

"I'm actually one of the luckiest ones," he says of his treatment. "Obviously I can cover both sides, but I've been given a few chances. That's not going to happen again.

"I'm enjoying what I'm doing, and I see how lucky I am. That's been my attitude ever since coming back for that Wellington test (against Australia ). Everything seems to be going well and I'm feeding off the rest of the team as well."

It was a relaxed Tialata who spoke to the media ahead of what shapes as a monumental battle in a test being billed as the "Battle of the Hemispheres".

He said he was happy to have regained his position, but was not satisfied with where he was at. He wants to get better. Plus, he knows he may need to with the improving Owen Franks breathing down his neck.

He's even man enough to admit he got a bit complacent at the start of this year. "I got a bit comfortable, especially not knowing what the young fella was like. Franksy played well and deserved to get those few starts. I went away and had to work on a lot of things."

Tialata said the All Blacks were confident they'd addressed their issues on scrum interpretations after the fiasco in Milan .

"We had a chat to big [refs] boss Paddy O'Brien, and let all our frustrations out on him… against Italy we were frustrated and surprised at some of the calls. It was good to have Paddy there to clear some things up, and share some thoughts with. Last week it gave the boys a bit of confidence knowing the ref wouldn't be an issue. There were a few resets, but as long as there's not 20 or 30 like we had against Italy."

In fact Tialata had a word of advice for Irishman Alain Rolland who will referee the French match: he reckons Jonathan Kaplan got it pretty much spot on at Twickenham.

"Just call the crouch, touch, pause, engage, and don't try to coach us," was Tialata's plea. "Just ref the game. We want to hit, get a good hit, and then just play. We want to play rugby and not scrum all day."

The French may well have other thoughts on that score.