Bleuets take revenge on New Zealand to join England in final

Matthew Warnier, Media365, published on Sunday, July 14, 2024 at 9:00 PM.

After suffering a defeat during the group stage, the Blue Team bounced back against New Zealand (31-55) and qualified for the final of the U-20 World Cup in a row.

The Bleuets owed themselves revenge. After losing to New Zealand in the group stage of the U-20 World Cup, Sebastien Calvet's men had the chance to avenge the humiliation of the semi-final. And on the Cape Town pitch, they did so in style. The Bleuets started this semi-final strongly. We didn't have to wait more than four minutes to see Joey Kerry Karaba score the first try after exploiting space at the exit of the corner to surprise the New Zealand defence, which was converted by Hugo Rios. Unleashed, Sebastien Calvet's men were not satisfied with these seven points in advance. Indeed, just four minutes later, Hoani Bosmorin lengthened his stride after recovering the tricolour ball. Like a tightrope walker, Hugo Rios passed along the touchline to send Charlie Gambini on a silver platter for the Bleuets' second try, converting again for La Rochelle's opener. The 'Black Children' could not remain idle, and with force they relaunched themselves. Indeed, Geoffrey Malaterre made a mistake in stopping a New Zealand ball. A double penalty was required with a yellow card for the French third line and a penalty attempt for New Zealand. After Hugo Reus missed a penalty, Mathis Castro Ferreira took over. After a break through from Barnaby Massa, the Toulouse third line played past the opposing defenders to crush his team's third attempt.

Les Bleuets shone in the first half.

The cross continued immediately as, at the break, Dylan Pledger brought the “Black Babies” back in the direction of the march. The scrum-half was able to take advantage of the gap in the French defensive curtain to go to the Queen. Back to seven points, the New Zealanders saw Hugo Reus regain his efficiency to give the French team a ten-length lead midway through the first half. After the half-hour mark, the Blues gave more air with Matisse Castro-Ferreira who was able to receive a pass from his striker's foot and then resist the return of the New Zealand defence to extend the lead slightly. Hugo Reus soon gave his team a 20-point lead, a gap that remained unchanged until the end of the first half. From the start of the second half, the French players did not slow down and the second half began with a hat-trick signed by Matisse Castro-Ferreira, reaching a strong conclusion to a long series of play against the wind that weakened the “Baby Blacks” defence. “. And then both teams began to open the benches in the hope of changing the situation. That's when indiscipline came to the party. After receiving a yellow card for Lorencio Boyer Gallardo, who was not at the right distance while playing at the feet of Leo Carbonneau, it was New Zealand winger Stanley Solomon who left the field for ten minutes.

“Black kids” broke their teeth.

A penalty was added to the dugout after a head-on collision with scrum-half Bleuets. But, just as quickly, that yellow card turned into a red, meaning 20 minutes of numerical disadvantage for New Zealand, as stipulated in the experimental rules set for the U20 World Cup. Fourteen against fourteen, ‘Baby Black’ did not give up and King Maxwell was found at the end of the line to try and give the Blues hope. On the hour mark, Aki Tuivailala caused the beginnings of panic among the Blues, who spared no effort. His effort took New Zealand 17 lengths closer. But in this semi-final, the slightest mistake was costly. Joé Quere-Karaba was able to read the reverse pass to intercept the ball and then send Mathis Ferté in for a test. The end of the match saw both sides take a big lead as Andrew Smith brought the Kiwis close again with less than a quarter of an hour remaining. But the Blues had the final say with Zan Musk completing a beautiful combination with a five-metre touch to seal the outcome of the encounter. With seven tries on the clock, the team won by a huge margin (31-55) and now have a date with England in what will be their fourth consecutive final. Indeed, the English dominated Ireland (31-20) in the first semi-final.