'Proud day': All Blacks debutant reflects on victory over France

It wasn’t pretty, and the All Blacks were forced to work for the victory at FMG Stadium Waikato, but they managed to get the job done and sweep the France series 3-0.

The All Blacks were helped by some valuable impact off the bench from Jordie Barrett, who broke through the French defensive line after a huge fend on the covering defender.

Barrett’s break gave him an opportunity to fire a pass back on the inside to All Blacks debutant Brodie McAlister, who was running a fantastic support line, before the debutant used the wet surface to propel himself over the line to score in his first Test match.

Reflecting on the debut and the Test series clean sweep, McAlister was just happy to get the first one under his belt.

“It’s pretty awesome, pretty proud day to pull on the black jersey, especially coming back to Hamilton as well, making my debut here is pretty special,” McAlister told the media post-match in Hamilton.

“Having have my support crew in the crowd as well, I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career so far, and they’ve stuck by me, so it’s pretty special to share that moment with them.”

“Yeah my son and my wife, got both sides of the family here, my parents, in-laws and siblings and a few mates came up as well, which is pretty awesome to have them out there.

McAlister said he was pleased to score on his debut, but the motivation was mostly driven by the team’s desire to secure a series sweep in Hamilton.

“Yeah, I’m just happy to yeah score, but obviously do it for the team as well, we talked around wanting to
go 3-0 over the series, and it was tight out there, France were right on so to edge that game out and get across the line, was pretty awesome.”

McAlister admits that the heat was on at the lineout and that he’ll learn from his experience in the first Test.

“Yep, was expecting that as well, France put out a big pack, but yeah, that’s a learning.

“We’ll get that right moving forward, but yeah, just happy to get my debut and get the win.”

There was a clear tactic by the French to be strong at the breakdown in Hamilton, something that the All Blacks had prepared for, according to McAlister.

“Yeah, at the breakdown, France were all over the ball, they did pretty well with that the whole series, we knew that coming in, so it’s fine margins and Test footy.

“That’s been talked about around a whole lot for me in the past few weeks,  so yeah, have to be on every time and same with the lineout, you have this small, wee window and you have to be right there.”