5 Things We Learned: France 27 - 13 New Zealand 2023 Rugby World Cup

The opening match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup is in the books, after a memorable encounter between France and the All Blacks. Les Bleus and New Zealand clashed in the host nation's capital, with France coming out victorious for a 29-13 win.

Here are five things we learned from France's win over the All Blacks.

After a run of 31 wins in a row, New Zealand have lost a match in the Rugby World Cup pool stages for the first time in their history. In their first match since taking a record defeat against the Springboks, the All Blacks have added another unwanted record loss with this defeat to France. Despite starting strong in Paris, New Zealand seem to have recently lost their aura when taking on the world's best nations.

You could count on one hand the amount of matches where the All Blacks would be considered 'underdogs', especially on the Rugby World Cup stage. However, they entered the Stade de France as exactly that, with their regularly revered Haka not even drumming up an expected response from France. Les Bleus' historic 'walk-up' reply to the war-dance in the 2007 RWC Quarter-Finals identified the All Blacks as a threat that they needed to rise to. Yet this time, Dupont and co watched on stone-faced, and were not fazed by any pre-match intimidation.

New Zealand's key contributor was winger Mark Telea, with two tries early in both the first and second halves. The Blues man combined with his soon to be former Auckland teammate Beauden Barrett, to gather a cross field kick in the corner for a second minute score.

Then early in the second half, nobody expected to see All Blacks number eight Ardie Savea chip the ball over the French back-line, to start the build up for Telea's second try. France were caught off-guard, which allowed New Zealand to exploit an overlap, and find Telea out wide from a looping pass, that the Stade de France faithful felt went forward. Telea also halted a try-scoring opportunity, with a dubious but albeit accidental knock-on, stopping France's efforts to get the ball wide to a salivating Damien Penaud.

All eyes were on France fly half Matthieu Jalibert, following the unfortunate ACL injury to Romain Ntamack, that has side-lined the Toulouse star for the entire tournament. Jalibert stepped into the spotlight, yet in what may have been a nerve-settling decision, fullback Thomas Ramos stepped up to take the kicks from the tee.

Jalibert had a wobbly start in first half, with two penalties not finding the touchline. However, as the match progressed and the nerves settled after conceding the early try, Jalibert started to take ownness over his back-line. A quiet first half from Antoine Dupont did not help the confidence of his halfback partner, yet Jalibert's second half was stronger, as he found his kicking boots in the changing rooms at the break, for well taken clearance kicks.

The Bordeaux-Begles man's starring moment saw him provide the assist for Damien Penaud's diving finish in the corner, to bring France back into the lead after 54 minutes. Jalibert forced Mark Telea to bite into the tackle, before neatly shipping the ball out wide, for Penaud to dive in unopposed. A narrow knock on from Penaud later stopped what could have been an early contender for try of the tournament, after Jalibert's neat nudge into the back-field once again split the All Blacks defence.

The All Blacks squad was shaken to it's foundations, just a day before their opening match of the Rugby World Cup. Captain Sam Cane picked up an injury in the All Blacks captain's run, to close out their training week. An injury at the last possible moment, Cane's absence was felt in the match's latter stages, with their leader's voice missing from the huddle when New Zealand tried to re-group.

Tupou Va'ai was brought in to start on the blindside flank, with Dalton Papali'i swapping across the back-row into Cane's seven jersey. Va'ai had a relatively quiet game, despite being given a late opportunity to impress on the pinnacle stage. Papali'i had a handful of notable moments, with a series of dominant tackles asserting himself on the likes of Gabrielle Villiere and Antoine Dupont. The duo worked well to halt Dupont's tricky runs from the back of the scrum, yet lacked the go-forward in attack to make any significant dent over the French gain-line.

The presence of Sam Cane would in no way have guaranteed a New Zealand victory, but he would have levelled out the heads after taking an early lead, and also when the All Blacks went behind. The All Blacks newcomers seemed over-eager to force a contribution, with prop Ethan de Groot notably knocking on the ball after cascading towards the gain-line at pace. This followed de Groot's attempt at redemption, after giving away two scrum penalties against Uini Antonio, who schooled the young prop in Paris.

Another high profile injury seems on the cards for France, as Hooker Julien Marchand vacated the Stade de France in the first half. Following on from the injuries to Ntamack, Cyrill Baille, Jonathan Danty and Paul Willemse, French hearts sunk when Marchand was forced off the pitch after a scrum collapse.

An integral part of Les Bleus' front row, Marchand was later seen on the substitutes bench with ice on his leg. However, the introduction of Peato Mauvaka did not lessen the French pack, with the 26-year-old impressing on his run out against New Zealand. Mauvaka's first contribution saw him exchange glances with Dupont, to run a pre-meditated short line-out, and breakaway along the left wing.

Mauvaka presented his footballing skills with a nice chip into the back-field, and an off-the-ball challenge halted his following chase, which was much to the annoyance of the French supporters. Mauvaka combined well with Uini Antonio, with the tighthead prop leading the scrums in the absence of Cyrill Baille's shouts. France's hard-hitting back-rower Gregory Alldritt also briefly scared Galthie's physios, yet a brief ice compress was all the number eight needed, to finish a bruising contest between the All Blacks and Blues.

A true winning team can come up with the goods, even if their talisman is having an off day. The 2011 All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup with Dan Carter out injured, and France demonstrated today that they do not need to rely on Dupont's excellence to get the win. The competition's poster boy had an uncharacteristically quiet day at the office, with the last-minute back-row pairing of Va'ai and Papali'i able to bring Dupont to ground off the back of a few more scrums than usual.

Aaron Smith was in no doubt in Dupont's ear, reminding him about how all eyes are on the Toulouse scrum half, having seen his image plastered on every billboard throughout Paris. Dupont seemed distracted, his reactions weren't quite as razor sharp as normal, and he even looked mortal enough to spill the ball into touch. An expected blip to shake off the nerves that come with being your nation's hero, yet he will be delighted to get the all important Pool A opener under his belt.

If Dupont hits top gear, France have a undoubted right to win their first Rugby World Cup. And even so, with the little magician off the boil tonight in Paris, Fabien Galthie's men were able to soundly beat the All Blacks. The home nation support will lift each and every one of the men in a 'Bleu' jersey, with Melvyn Jaminet a prime example. Coming off the bench full of adrenaline, Jaminet scored his first ever international try, and closed out the win in style for France.

TRIES: 2 (Penaud 56', Jaminet 77')

CONVERSIONS: 1 (Ramos 56')

PENALTIES: 5 (Ramos 4', 19', 28', 64', 72')

DROP GOALS: 0

YELLOW CARDS (BUNKERS):

RED CARDS:

TRIES: 2 (Telea 2', 43')

CONVERSIONS: 0

PENALTIES: 1 (Mo'unga 25')

DROP GOALS:

YELLOW CARDS ((BUNKERS)): 1 (Jordan ((57'))

RED CARDS: