Try Scorer Jean-Luc Sadourny (France)

New Zealand 20 France 23 (2nd Test)

Eden Park Auckland 

Sunday 3 July 1994

Commentary Ian Robertson (New Zealand)

“Saint-Andre, now they have to chance their arm here, the tour record hanging in the balance. Philippe Saint-Andre can he make the pass ? Cooksley all over him ,there it is again, Gonzalez, Deylaud, Benazzi, Ntamack, Laurent Cabannes, Deylaud what a superb movement ! what a try ! one of the all time great tries by Sadourny”.

If Carlesberg did tries they would probably step aside for the French when it comes to being the best.

The fact that this particular one was scored against the All Blacks at Eden Park of all places and with only minutes of the match remaining makes it premier cru class.

The ball travelled eighty metres from one side of the field to the other, stopping briefly for a quick two second ruck, and went through nine sets of hands, the entire move lasted thirty seconds. It was the essence of French rugby personified 

In front of 40,000 spectators, the All Blacks faced France as part of a two test series. 

The previous weekend France had beaten the All Blacks at Christchurch 22-8 in Phillipe Sella’s 100th match for Les Bleus.

All Blacks coach Laurie Mains had promised revenge and up until the final few minutes he looked to be as good as his word. 

With minutes remaining on the clock France Captain Philippe Saint-André took the ball about 18 metres from his own tryline after a kick by All Black fly half Stephen Bachop.

Saint-André brought the ball into midfield before making a blistering break sidestepping two All Blacks along the way before the tackle of lock Mark Cooksley stopped him in his tracks a few metres short of the 40m line. The ball was recycled by hooker Jean-Michel Gonzalez who passed to fly half Christophe Deylaud. Deylaud passed outside to flanker Abdelatif Benazzi, who evaded Jonah Lomu, before passing the ball again to winger Emile Ntamack. The had travelled twenty metres, through three sets of hands in five seconds.

Ntamack then cut inside and and as he was tackled by John Kirwan offloaded to flanker Laurent Cabannes. Who in turn flicked the ball back to replacement Yann Delaigue, before being tackled by Stu Forster. Delaigue then switched play to the opposite Touchline evading a tackle by Frank Bunce before passing to France number nine Guy Accoceberry, the angle of the scrum half’s run left All Black openside Mike Brewer stranded, Accoceberry ran towards the right-hand corner, outpacing three covering All Blacks.

As they closed in Accoceberry, inches from the tryline, he offloaded to Sadourny, who just fell on the ball to touchdown for the sensational try.

Deylaud kicked a tricky conversion from wide out to give France a 23-20 lead with just 45 seconds remaining, France gathered the All Black restart and kicked to touch around the 22m line. All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick won a scrappy lineout and got the ball back to his scrum half Stu Forster who was immediately enveloped by the French forwards. New Zealand recycled the ball and in their efforts get upfield were awarded three penalties, but the ball was eventually trapped in a maul and the final whistle was blown. It was first ever France’s test series win in New Zealand, and the first time New Zealand had lost three tests in a row in twenty-three years.

Sadourney’s try is generally considered one of the greatest tries ever scored, often ranked alongside ‘The Try’ scored by Gareth Edwards from the Barbarians against New Zealand in 1973.

PHILIPPE SAINT-ANDRE (69 French caps, wing): I was the captain and we knew the second Test was going to be very tough. We had seen on TV that the All Blacks had had a fight in training during the week. There was big pressure on them. I was playing in front of John Kirwan in one of his last international games and it was the beginning of Jonah Lomu.

John Kirwan: There were a few dust-ups at live scrums in training. I think we had a few fights playing touch.

PSA: At one point we were four points down and we had a chance to counterattack, but we kicked the ball. I was mad. I said, ‘guys, we can lose by 12 points but if we have the chance to run the ball we need to do it’. After that, the All Blacks kicked the ball. Because I’d bollocked everyone five minutes earlier I had to run the ball. I was on my own against four or five New Zealand players.

Frank Bunce: The kick was a little bit off, the chase was not quite right, one guy gets beaten and then there are all the support guys coming through.

Ian Jones: Ntamack set off through about 15 of us on this curving wonderful run. They covered a good 120 metres of ground and no one laid a hand on them.

John Kieran: We were tackling shadows. It was France at their very best and us making errors.

Frank Bunce:I got stepped inside, then they passed the ball along to Jean-Luc Sadourny…

The full-back scored on the left. The ball had passed through eight pairs of hands, from defence to attack in a flash. It was one of the great tries ever scored.

John Kirwan:It was a pretty spectacular try, not dissimilar to the Sean O’Brien one in Auckland. It was really special to see it unfold but equally really disappointing that we could not shut it down. I knew they would run it, but the rest of the team did not. It was mental switch-off for us – the last thing you can do against France is give them that try – they grow another leg when they do stuff like that.

PSA: We were in the press conference afterwards and I called it ‘essai du bout du monde’, or ‘the try from the end of the world’. It’s still known as that.

We had a big, big celebration. We went to a bar down by the sea. We drank and sung all night long.

But across the corridor, the All Black dressing room held a different mood.

John Kirwan: Have you ever been to a wake? It was like 30 of your closest mates had passed away and you were sitting with them. Purgatory probably – that was the place we were in.

Frank Bunce: You just sit there, with nothing to say. You know you have let people down and it is not going to be good.

John Kirwan:What you have to realise is that even your family will be talking about it. You cannot escape it in our country. Everyone talks about it. For me it was about hiding in my room, not wanting to go out, not wanting to show my face, being embarrassed.

New Zealand:

1. R. W. Loe, 2. S. B. T. Fitzpatrick (captain), 3. O. M. Brown, 4. B. P. Larsen, 5. I. D. Jones, 6. M. S. B. Cooksley, 7. M. R. Brewer, 8. Z. V. Brooke (replaced by A. Pene) , 9. S. T. Forster, 10. S. J. Bachop, 11. J. T. Lomu, 12. M. J. A. Cooper, 13. F. E. Bunce, 14. J. J. Kirwan, 15. J. K. R. Timu

SCORERS: Sean Fitzpatrick Try; Matthew Cooper Penalty Kicks(5)

France:

1 L. Benezech, 2 J-M. Gonzalez, 3 C. Califano, 6 A. Benazzi, 4 O. Roumat, 5 O. Merle, 7 L. Cabannes, 8 P. Benetton, 9 G. Accoceberry (replaced by X. Blond), 10 C. Deylaud, 11 E. Ntamack, 12 T. Lacroix (replaced by Y. Delaigue), 13 P. Sella, 14 P. Saint-Andre (C), 15 J-L. Sadourny

SCORERS: Emile Ntamack, Jean-Luc Sadourny Tries; Conversions: Christophe Deylaud, Thierry Lacroix; Penalty Goals: Christophe Deylaud, Thierry Lacroix (2)

Referee Derek Bevan (Wales).
The try scorer Jean-Luc Sadourny spent his entire career at the Colomiers club and won .. caps for France before opening Restaurant Le Sadourny Café in Place Alex Raymond in Colomiers.

His flair on the field was more than matched in my humble opinion by his establishment’s Tartare de boeuf charolais ou limousine every bit as mouthwatering as his glorious try at Eden Park.