Dave Rennie off to positive start as All Blacks edge out France in Christchurch

When these two nations met 12 months ago, much of the conversation was dominated by the French sending a second-string team to Aotearoa for the Test series. This time around, Bordeaux's early exit from the Top 14 and relaxed restrictions on head coach Fabien Galthie meant that a far more competitive Les Bleus squad made the trip to New Zealand, and thankfully so, as we were treated to a belter of a Test match.

With Antoine Dupont absent, it was the All Blacks' number nine that shone with Cam Roigard either side of half-time for Rennie's charges, with Will Jordan scoring in both halves too.

France came charging out of the blocks with Damian Penaud scoring in the opening minute of the game on his return to the blue jersey. That sparked what proved to be a helter-skelter Test match with Jordan responding on seven minutes. Peter Lakai and Roigard scored either side of Maxime Lucu penalties as the hosts took a 19-13 lead into the break.

Again, it was the visitors who started quickest in the second half with Antoine Hastoy crossing six minutes into the second stanza to take a one-point lead, but that was quickly cancelled out by Roigard.

Ruben Love's penalty and Jordan's try in the final quarter were enough to see the All Blacks to a maiden victory under Rennie, despite Theo Attissogbe and Matthieu Jalibert's late scores making it a nervy finish.

Les Bleus were first to strike and did so from the very first lineout of the game. The French took the ball through several phases with Penaud linking up with Max Spring down the right-hand side. The Bordeaux star rounded off the attacking move soon after, running a fantastic loop and cantering through for his 41st international try for France.

After Lucu's conversion, the All Blacks were further punished as TMO Marius van der Westhuizen notified referee Luke Pearce of a possible foul play incident, and upon review, Ruben Love was yellow-carded for his dangerous tackle on Spring in the build-up to the try.

The All Blacks responded brilliantly, spent much of the yellow-card period inside the French 22, and forced multiple penalties from the visitors. The last of which was taken quickly by captain Ardie Savea, who went inches short of scoring by a phase later; Damian McKenzie threw a wonderful skip pass out to Jordan, who acrobatically avoided the tackle of Théo Attissogbé as he touched down for his 46th career try.

Rennie's charges managed to shut the French out as Pearce confirmed that Love's yellow card would not be upgraded, with Love returning to the action shortly before Lucu dissected the posts from a penalty.

The All Blacks were next to strike, attacking from a scrum inside their own 22 with McKenzie slicing through the defence and up to the French 10m line before linking up with Cam Roigard. Stunning hands from Quinn Tupaea two phases later freed Lakai and Caleb Clarke down the flank with the latter providing the final pass to the former who ran in for his second Test try. Love added the extras as the All Blacks ended the first quarter with their noses in front - 12-10.

New Zealand's defence remained resolute thereafter, despite France's willingness to retain possession, going over 20 phases with the ball in hand before Lucu opted to take the three points on the stroke of 30 minutes.

The hosts, trailing by one, spoiled a golden opportunity to hit back instantly after Love flexed his mesmerising footwork to tear through the defence, but a knock-on five metres from the line let the French off the hook. New Zealand looked to have got the score to go into the lead just before the break when Ethan de Groot lunged towards the line.

However, the prop - sporting a nasty gash on his face - was denied as he knocked the ball in contact. New Zealand were playing under advantage, and Savea pointed to the corner, a wise call as the All Blacks formed a maul before Roigard dummied and raced through for the five-pointer. Love's conversion from right in front gave the hosts a 19-13 lead at half-time.

Les Bleus were first to strike in the second half with Hastoy rounding off a truly sensational attack. Attissogbé kick-started the attack after McKenzie's attempted cross-field kick. Again, France held onto possession for several phases before Jalibert jinked inside, offloaded to Attissogbé, whose basketball pass gave Hastoy an easy run-in. Lucu's conversion put the French back ahead, but that did not last long.

The reply again came through Roigard, who latched onto a Jordie Barrett offload in contact with the latter freed up by another beautiful pass by Tupaea - making it a six-point game with 30 minutes to play.

The theme of punch and counter-punch continued as Brau-Boirie looked to have punished the All Blacks' inaccuracies under the high ball. The centre scooped up the ball on the run after it spilled out of a breakdown, but his try was chalked off as Spring seemingly knocked the ball on during the aerial contest.

However, the French weren't denied before the hour mark as they attacked from turnover ball following a superb rip by Marko Gazzotti. Two phases later and Attissogbé had the easiest of runs over the line.

With a penalty right in front of the sticks on 65 minutes, Savea ordered Love to take the shot and the fly-half duly slotted it to give the All Blacks a four-point lead in the final quarter.

They extended that lead to nine as Luke Jacobson powered through a Hastoy tackle and offloaded in contact to Jordan, who moved past Christian Cullen on the All Blacks' all-time leading try scorer and is just two away from Doug Howlett's record of 49.

The helter-skelter nature of the fixture meant that France would not go down easy, with Jalibert scoring in the final five minutes of the game to make it a two-point game. However, New Zealand managed to hold onto their lead and clinch the win.