All Blacks assistant Barnes dismisses France 'B team' talk and calls box-kick trend overboard

New Zealand lead assistant coach Neil Barnes has rejected the idea that France will arrive in Christchurch as a second-string side, and taken aim at what he sees as an excessive box-kick trend in the international game, speaking to media after All Blacks training at Christ’s College on Tuesday.

With a number of France’s Six Nations-winning squad unavailable due to injury, rest, or Top 14 final commitments, some observers have framed the touring party as a depleted group. Barnes was having none of it. “I’m not buying into this rubbish that they’re bringing over a B team or anything like that,” he said. “They’ve got great depth in that country, in their game, and we’ve got to applaud them for what they’ve created. So, I don’t care who they bring, it’s a French team, they’ll be able to play, they’ll be physical, and we’re going to have to be at our very best.”

The All Blacks squad assembled for the first time last Wednesday, giving Barnes — appointed on March 24 — his initial opportunity to work hands-on with players and begin installing the new coaching group’s game plan. Barnes said clarity and simplicity have been the guiding principles in those early sessions, echoing head coach Dave Rennie’s stated ambition for the team to be “brilliant at the basics”.

On the kicking game, Barnes acknowledged that contestable kicks will likely feature under the roof at the new One New Zealand Stadium, and said New Zealand have prepared accordingly. “We think we’ve got certain people who can handle it, so if people want to kick us the ball, we’ll be doing our best to retrieve it. We’ve got a plan around that, and we might even try to use it,” he said.

However, he drew a clear distinction between purposeful kicking and the volume teams are currently deploying. “Box kicking has a use in the game. At the moment, I just think it’s a little overboard, the amount that teams are doing it. Everyone has their own opinions; we’ll have ours, and we’ll play accordingly.”

New attack coach Mike Blair has previously argued that kicking with a positive intent — to disorganise a defence rather than simply relieve pressure — is entirely consistent with an expansive attacking philosophy, a framing that appears central to how the new All Blacks coaching staff intend to reconcile their kicking strategy with New Zealand’s traditional style.

Saturday’s match against France in Christchurch will offer the first public glimpse of how that philosophy translates onto the field.