All Blacks great Justin Marshall and France’s Thomas Ramos is tackled by New Zealand’s Anton Lienert-Brown.
Justin Marshall has urged France to respect their 2025 tour to New Zealand and send their strongest possible squad for the series against the All Blacks.
Much has been said and written about the upcoming series since the French Rugby Federation (FFR) revealed that the players who reach the Top 14 final would not be available to head coach Fabien Galthie for the three-Test series in July.
The FFR said it is “part of a preparation cycle for the 2027 World Cup with an approach focused on managing the most in-demand players and on the gradual construction of the squad.”
New Zealand ‘surprised’ by France’s decision
New Zealand Rugby subsequently issued a statement in which they said they were “surprised” by the FFR’s controversial decision.
Adding spice to the highly anticipated series was France’s refusal to play one of the Tests in the USA which means Dunedin, Wellington and Hamilton will be hosting the three fixtures.
Like most New Zealanders, Marshall is unhappy that France have indicated that they will not be at full strength for the series.
France have dominated the fixture in recent years, winning their last three Tests against the All Blacks – all in Paris.
Marshall said what made those matches such entertaining spectacles was that Les Bleus and the All Blacks always fielded full-strength teams and it’s only fair that the same thing happens in New Zealand in 2025.
“At the end of the day, if you want to do a lap around the field after beating the All Blacks in the last two times that we’ve been in Paris, if you want to have basically 85,000 people at your stadium, I was there, what an atmosphere, what a stadium, what a couple of Test matches the All Blacks have played there recently, then give us that opportunity to replicate that,” he told DSPN with Martin Devlin.
“Send your number one team and come and try and beat us in our own backyard. Get your bloody mantra out there and show that you’re here to basically give us back what we give you when we go.
‘Try and actually see it from our perspective’
“We don’t send our B team to play you at the end of the year because our players are tired. We send over our team to knock you over in your own backyard. Now, try and actually see it from our perspective that we want to have that environment.”
Marshall believes if France send an understrength squad it will be a lack of “respect” from them said they would be “doing the game an injustice”.
“We want to have that feeling for our fans, for our people to see France with their number one team coming over here and taking us on,” explained the 51-yer-old.
“And if you don’t do that, you’re doing the game an injustice because you’re not treating it with respect because we do.
“We treat you with respect. And I feel that if the French were to use the excuse of a long season and their players are tired, well, you know, that’s just piss poor because we’re exactly the same when we have to go in November, but we front.
“And if they don’t, then, you know, it goes to show that we have a little bit more pride about us in the terms of what we feel international rugby should be and the players respect that.”
