French Rugby Tour Opens in Nelson

French

Combined

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M. Laurent (French Manager)

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D. Neighbours (Nelson Selector)

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P. Dwyer (Marlborough Selector)

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O. Newman (Gold Bay-Mot Selector)

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G. Basquet (French Manager)

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J. Dupuy

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M. Vannier

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P. Albaladejo

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P. Lacroix

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G. Boniface

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J. Bouquet

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H. Rancoule

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F. Moncla (Capt)

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A. Domenech

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M. Celaya

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G. Bouguyon

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J. Laudouar

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J. Saux

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P. Cazals

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M. Crauste

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J. Wilson (Capt).

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D. Durrant

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P. Fry

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R. Wratt

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C. Thelin

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M. Surgenor

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R. Sutherland

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J. Deidrich.

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B. McPhail

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M. Delany

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B. Miller

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B. Gardiner

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D. Bowater

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B. Dalley

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J. Green

France 29

Nelson Marl G. Bay

Combined 11

The 1961 touring French Rugby team opened its New Zealand tour in Nelson with a 29—11 victory over the combined Nelson, Marl-borough-Golden Bay team on a fine, sunny day at Trafalgar Park. But there were a lot of wagers lost on this match, and this can be taken as a compliment to the Combined's display. There was much talk of 20 points in, but the tourists, despite their very unorthodox and at times brilliant passing movements, did not reach the heights expected of them. The impression was left that their particularly loose forward play, with two loose forwards foraging well out in the open, may bring problems when the team is matched against an All Black team which will tighten up the forward play, tackle more surely and not accept proferred dummies as the Combined team too often did.

Yet there was no gainsaying that these Frenchmen play the handling game as it was meant to be played. Often, with the way blocked in one direction, a long pass commenced a new movement in another direction. The passing at times was bewildering. In the tighter play, particularly in lineouts, Combined lost nothing. The scrummaging was easily won by the visitors, but in some measure this could be attributed to the speed at which P. Lacroix put the ball in - much faster than is normally permitted.

Until the second half Combined had the Frenchmen worried, but the pace began to tell in the second spell, and unsure tackling helped give away 23 points.