The 1979 France rugby union tour of Fiji New Zealand Tahiti was a series of ten matches played in June and July 1979 by the France national rugby union team in Fiji, New Zealand and Tahiti. The team won seven matches and lost three, including defeats to provincial teams Waikato and Southland. They drew their two-match test series against the New Zealand national rugby union team, losing the first test but winning the second. The victory in the second test was France's first away victory against New Zealand, gained at the eighth attempt.
Results Scores and results list France's points tally first. DateOpponentLocationResultScoreMatch 116 June FijiBuckhurst Park, SuvaWon13–4Match 220 JuneLansdowne Park, BlenheimWon35–15Match 323 JuneRugby Park, HamiltonLost15–18Match 427 JuneOkara Park, WhangāreiWon16–3Match 530 JuneAthletic Park, WellingtonWon14–9Match 63 JulyMcLean Park, NapierWon31–13Match 77 July New ZealandLancaster Park, ChristchurchLost9–23Match 810 JulyRugby Park, InvercargillLost11–12Match 914 July New ZealandEden Park, AucklandWon24–19Match 1016 July TahitiPapeeteWon92–12
Test matches
First Test
NEW ZEALAND: Bevan Wilson, Stu Wilson, Bruce Robertson, Lyn Jaffray, Murray Watts, Murray Taylor, Mark Donaldson, Brad Johnstone, Andy Dalton, Gary Knight, Frank Oliver (rep Wayne Graham), Andy Haden, Leicester Rutledge, Gary Seear, Graham Mourie (c)
FRANCE: Jean-Michel Aguirre, Frédéric Costes, Didier Codorniou, Patrick Mesny, Jean-Luc Averous, Alain Caussade, Yves Lafarge, Robert Paparemborde, Philippe Dintrans, Guy Colomine, Francis Haget, Patrick Salas, Jean-Pierre Rives (c), Christian Béguerie, Jean-Luc Joinel.
Second Test
NEW ZEALAND: Bevan Wilson, Stu Wilson, Bruce Robertson, Lyn Jaffray, Murray Watts, Murray Taylor, Mark Donaldson, Brad Johnstone, Andy Dalton, Gary Knight, Frank Oliver, Andy Haden, Leicester Rutledge, Gary Seear, Graham Mourie (c)
FRANCE: Jean-Michel Aguirre, Frédéric Costes, Didier Codorniou, Patrick Mesny, Jean-Luc Averous, Alain Caussade, Jérôme Gallion, Robert Paparemborde, Philippe Dintrans, Daniel Dubroca, Francis Haget, Alain Maleig, Jean-Pierre Rives (c), Patrick Salas, Jean-Luc Joinel.
Touring party
Manager: Yves Noe Assistant managers: Fernand Cazenave & Jean Desclaux Captain: Jean-Pierre Rives
Full backs Jean-Michel Aguirre (Bagnères) Serge Blanco (Biarritz)
Three-quarters Frédéric Costes (Montferrand) Jean-Luc Averous (La Voulte) Daniel Bustaffa (Carcassonne) Didier Codorniou (Narbonne) Patrick Mesny (Racing Club de France) – replacement during tour Michel Duffranc (Tyrosse) Laurent Pardo (Tarbes)
Half-backs Alain Caussade (Lourdes) Guy Laporte (Graulhet) Jérôme Gallion (Toulon) Yves Lafarge (Montferrand)
Forwards Yves Malquier (Narbonne) Christian Béguerie (Agen) Jean-Luc Joinel (Brive) Jean-Pierre Rives (Toulouse) Francis Haget (Biarritz) Patrick Salas (Narbonne) Jean-François Marchal (Lourdes) Alain Maleig (Oloron) Guy Colomine (Narbonne) Daniel Dubroca (Agen) Robert Paparemborde (Pau) Philippe Dintrans (Tarbes) Jean-François Perche (Bourg)
References