Mas: Getting in the All Blacks’ minds holds key to RWC win

Getting inside the minds of the All Blacks, just like four years ago, will be the key for France in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal on Saturday.That’s the message veteran prop Nicolas Mas is giving his teammates in the build up to their showdown in Cardiff.”If we can make them doubt,” the 35-year-old Mas says, ”we can do something.”The French famously upset New Zealand in the 2007 World Cup quarterfinals in Cardiff, coming back from a halftime deficit for a surprising win.Mas was involved in 2011 when France very nearly pulled off another massive upset, this time on New Zealand soil.He is one a handful of survivors from France’s World Cup campaign four years ago, one fraught with in-fighting and a fall out between players and coach Marc Lievremont, but which almost finished in the most improbable of ways: World Cup victory.Having reached the final against all odds, France was supposed to lose convincingly to the clear title favorite, but had New Zealand on the back foot from the outset after linking arms to form a spear shape and marching on the All Blacks’ pre-match Haka.It was an unexpected, inspired and gutsy move – particularly since it was on New… Read full this story

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