France captain Antoine Dupont praised his side’s “pragmatism” after the 30-29 victory over New Zealand on Saturday in Paris.
Fly-half Thomas Ramos kicked 15 points for Les Bleus, who had trailed 14-3 after half an hour.
“We scored points, we were pragmatic which kept us in the game,” Dupont told TF1.
“It shows the experience and almost the wisdom of the team as we know how to remotivate and go again,” he added.
After conceding a 27th-minute Cam Roigard try, Dupont’s side held out strong, with penalties from Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie keeping the All Blacks in the game.
“There’s nothing more exhilarating than in those final few minutes you feel the guy next to you making that extra effort,” Dupont said.
“Not giving in, not giving up on victory,” he added.
New Zealand were dominant until the 30-minute mark, before France full-back Romain Buros scored on his debut and flanker Paul Boudehent crashed over from a maul after 44 minutes.
“We created so much and didn’t finish. That’s the tough part,” New Zealand coach Scott Robertson told reporters.
“We played some good footy. The game changed just before and after the half-time.
“We didn’t put enough on scoreboard pressure and they stayed in it,” he added.
Dupont played his second 15-a-side game for his country since winning rugby sevens gold at this summer’s Olympics.
The 28-year-old had a quiet game by his standards, after his two assists in last week’s win over Japan.
New Zealand had 61% of the ball, restricting 2021’s World Rugby player of the year’s ability to influence proceedings.
“Possession-wise, we were dominated,” Dupont said.
“I found it hard to find the tempo to the game I wanted. I had to find other ways of doing it, and helping the team.
“We had a lot of work to do in defence,” he added.
The victory marked a third-straight win for France over New Zealand as they matched their best ever run against the All Blacks, set in 1994-1995.
The win at last year’s World Cup followed victory in 2021, which was their first over New Zealand since 2009.
Since 1996 only South Africa and Australia have managed a three-game winning streak against the All Blacks.
“It’s three times the All Blacks have come here to play this France team around Antoine and three times they have fallen,” coach Fabien Galthie said.
“They’ve always been difficult games,” he added.
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