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 The France national rugby union team () represents France in men's international rugby union and it is administered by the French Rugby Federation. They traditionally play in blue shirts emblazoned with the national emblem of a golden rooster ...

in Fiji,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

. The team won seven matches and lost three, including defeats to provincial teams Waikato and Southland. They drew their two-match test series against

New Zealand national rugby union team The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

, 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.''

Test matches

First Test

NEW ZEALAND:

Bevan Wilson Bevan William Wilson (born 22 March 1956) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A full-back, Wilson represented Otago at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks The New Zealand nationa ...

Stu Wilson Stu Wilson (born 22 July 1954, in Gore, New Zealand, Gore) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He played for Wellington Lions, Wellington and New Zealand, captaining the national team in the 1983 New Zealand rugby union tour of Scotland ...

, Bruce Robertson, Lyn Jaffray, Murray Watts,

Murray Taylor Murray Barton Taylor (born 25 August 1956) is a retired rugby union player from New Zealand. He played thirty matches for the New Zealand national rugby union team, All Blacks in the late 1970s and early 1980s; seven of these were Test match (rug ...

Mark Donaldson Mark Gregor Strang Donaldson, (born 2 April 1979) is an Australian soldier and a recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, the highest award in the Australian honours system. Then Trooper Donaldson was a member of the Special Air Service ...

Brad Johnstone Bradley Ronald Johnstone (born 30 July 1950), known as Brad Johnstone, is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer and currently the President of the North Shore Rugby Football Club. He used to play as a prop. All Black number 749. He first p ...

Andy Dalton Andrew Gregory Dalton (born October 29, 1987) is an American football quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Red Rifle", Dalton previously played for the Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, and ...

Gary Knight Gary Knight (born 1964) is an Anglo-American photographer, editor and author. Co-founder of the VII Photo Agency, co-founder and CEO of the VII Foundation and founder and CEO of the VII Academy. Life and work Knight was born in 1964 in Oakham ...

, Frank Oliver (rep

Wayne Graham Wayne may refer to: People with the given name and surname * Wayne (given name) * Wayne (surname) Geographical Places with name ''Wayne'' may take their name from a person with that surname; the most famous such person was Gen. "Mad" Antho ...

Andy Haden Andrew Maxwell Haden (26 September 195029 July 2020) was a New Zealand rugby union player and All Black captain. He played at lock for Auckland and New Zealand from 1972 until 1985. He also played club rugby in the United Kingdom and Italy. Lif ...

, Leicester Rutledge, Gary Seear,

Graham Mourie Graham Neil Kenneth Mourie (born 8 September 1952) is a former New Zealand All Black flanker and coach of the Hurricanes. He was one of the great All Black captains in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was first selected for the All Blacks in ...

(c) FRANCE: Jean-Michel Aguirre, Frédéric Costes, Didier Codorniou, Patrick Mesny, Jean-Luc Averous, Alain Caussade, Yves Laffarge,

Robert Paparemborde Robert Paparemborde (5 July 1948 – 19 April 2001), was a French rugby union player. He was capped 55 times, 5 as captain, for the French national side. He was regarded as one of the greatest prop-forwards and was a member of the French team ...

Philippe Dintrans Philippe Dintrans (born 29 January 1957, in Tarbes) is a former French rugby union player and a current entrepreneur. He played as a hooker. He played all his career at Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby, starting at 1967, aged 10 years old, and joining the f ...

, Christian Colomine, Francis Haget, Patrick Salas,

Jean-Pierre Rives Jean-Pierre Rives (born 31 December 1952) is a French former rugby union player and visual artist. "A cult figure in France", according to the ''BBC'', he came to epitomise the team's spirit and "ultra-committed, guts-and-glory style of play".

(c), Christian Beguerie, Jean-Luc Joinel.

Second Test

NEW ZEALAND:

, Bruce Robertson, Lyn Jaffray, Murray Watts,

, Frank Oliver,

, Leicester Rutledge, Gary Seear,

(c) FRANCE: Jean-Michel Aguirre, Frédéric Costes, Didier Codorniou, Patrick Mesny, Jean-Luc Averous, Alain Caussade, Jérôme Gallion,

, Daniel Dubroca, Francis Haget, Alain Maleg,

(c), Christian Beguerie, Jean-Luc Joinel.

Touring party

*Manager: Yves Noe *Assistant managers:

Fernand Cazenave Fernand Cazenave (26 November 1924, in Orthez – 11 January 2005, in Mont-de-Marsan) was a French former rugby union international and national coach. Cazenave played six times for France as a winger in the 1950s. He made his debut against England ...

& Jean Desclaux *Captain:

Full backs

Jean-Michel Aguirre Jean-Michel Aguirre (born Tostat, 2 November 1951) is a former French rugby union player. He played as a Scrum-half and Fullback. Aguirre played for Stade Bagnérais. He started his career as a Scrum-half but his usual positions became Ful ...

(Bagnères) *

Serge Blanco Serge Blanco (born 31 August 1958) is a former rugby union footballer who played fullback for Biarritz Olympique and the French national side, gaining 93 caps, 81 of them at fullback. His alternative position was wing. He was generally nicknamed ...

(Biarritz)

Three-quarters

* Frédéric Costes (Montferrand) * Jean-Luc Averous (La Voulte) * Daniel Bustaffa (Carcassonne) *

Didier Codorniou Didier Codorniou (born 13 February 1958 in Narbonne)Didier Codorniou player profile
ESPN ...

(Narbonne) * Patrick Mesny (Racing Club de France) – replacement during tour *M Duffranc (Tyrosse) * Laurent Pardo (Tarbes)

Half-backs

Alain Caussade Alain Caussade (born Juillan, 27 July 1952) is a former French rugby union player. He played as a wing and a fly-half. He played for FC Lourdes almost all of his career. He won the Challenge Yves du Manoir in 1981. He had 12 caps for France, from ...

(Lourdes) *

Guy Laporte Guy Laporte (15 December 1952 – 28 January 2022) was a French rugby union player and a sports executive. He played as a fly-half. Career Laporte was born in Beaufort, Haute-Garonne, Beaufort, French Fourth Republic, France. He first played for ...

(Graulhet) * Jérôme Gallion (Toulon) *Yves Laffarge (Montferrand)

Forwards

* Yves Malquier (Narbonne) * Christian Beguerie (Agen) * Jean-Luc Joinel (Brive) *

(Toulouse) * Francis Haget (Biarritz) * Patrick Salas (Narbonne) * Jean-François Marchal (Lourdes) * Alain Maleig (Oloron) * Guy Colomine (Narbonne) * Daniel Dubroca (Agen) *

(Pau) *

(Tarbes) * Jean-François Perche (Bourg)

References

* {{France national rugby union team

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

France Tour

Tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

France national rugby union team tours France national rugby union team tours of New Zealand France national rugby union team tours of Fiji

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...