View from Paris: Kimberlee Downs writes about the sense of expectation building around a country that has never won the William Webb Ellis Cup.
There’s not so much an undercurrent of anticipation here in Paris as a swell of expectation.
You can see it in the taxi driver who’s more a football man but will be tuning in to cheer for France on Saturday morning because he knows they have a good team.
You can hear it in the voices of the French journalists, who probe their Kiwi counterparts to find out what’s gone wrong in recent years.
You can sense it in the tone of the papers, that feeling for the French of “if not now, when? If not this team, who?”
We know how they feel.
In the last year New Zealander’s had the privilege of witnessing how a home team winning its first encounter can light up a tournament (see: Football Ferns) and how much a group can be buoyed by a nation in behind them (see: Black Ferns).
Remember the sense of anticipation? The delight when things went the way of the Kiwi teams, the water cooler conversations, the way a country got swept up in the highs, lows, personal journeys, professional ones?
That’s what the French want to emulate at Stade de France on Saturday; a history-making win that will set the tournament alight, that will show once and for all this is not the France of old - one that has flair but no structure, moments of magic but no consistency, that crumbles under the weight of expectation.
The All Blacks know that.
All week we’ve heard about how passionate French fans are, the atmosphere they’re expecting at the stadium, how they’re planning for what to do if their calls to each other are drowned out by the 80,000-strong crowd.
All week we’ve had a sense the New Zealand team want to use it.
Forwards coach Jason Ryan called the pressure on a home nation “massive”.
Defence coach Scott McLeod regaled us with stories from those who’d been part of the 2011 team, about how they’ve spoken of the unrelenting nature of it, your name and team being discussed everywhere, every billboard a reminder of what’s at stake.
Which is plenty.
The All Blacks have a proud unbeaten record in pool play to uphold, not to mention the confidence that will come from beating Les Bleus at home after that record defeat to South Africa.
A win first up for New Zealand would allow a certain comfort, an ability to believe Twickenham was a one-off, a blip, an anomaly.
Sure, when you look at the bigger picture, as Ian Foster has acknowledged, coming first or second in the pool doesn’t necessarily mean much in the scheme of things.
Either way you’ll likely have Ireland or South Africa lying in wait, both phenomenal teams well capable of winning it all, while the defending champions have already put to bed the idea that a pristine pool play record is necessary to get your hands on Monsieur William Webb Ellis.
But try telling that to the players who will take part in this great occasion of a World Cup opener.
Right now, for them, this means everything.
And as Beauden Barrett told media at today’s team naming: “These French boys have been waiting for this moment for a long time. But so have we.”
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