Jordie Barrett scores a try during the All Blacks v France game at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on 16 June 2018. Photo: Photosport
Analysis - We are a week out from the start of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which opens with the much-anticipated match between hosts France and the All Blacks.
The game will take place at the 80,000-capacity Stade de France in Paris, the second time the tournament has started in the French capital, which will also host the final.
These two sides may well meet again in that big game, not for the first time, which would be another chapter in a long history of rugby relations between the two nations.
Here is a look at some of the greatest moments over the past 118 years.
Dave Gallaher throws to a lineout. Gallaher was captain of the original All Black team represented the All Blacks 1903-1906. Photo: Photosport
1905 - The All Blacks teach the French how to scrum
The first meeting between the two was a pretty one-sided 38-8 win, with the All Blacks being more of a carnival-type attraction on their first visit to Paris.
In keeping with the generous nature of the meeting, All Black captain Dave Gallaher offered the French advice throughout the game on how to scrummage more effectively.
1961 - Don Clarke's kick, Wellington's wind
The All Blacks were staring down the barrel of an upset loss to France in hurricane-like conditions at Athletic Park, before a Kel Tremain try in the corner on full time saved some blushes for the home side.
In a moment that would definitely go viral if it happened today, fullback Don Clarke kicked the conversion straight across the field and let the wind do the rest, landing a remarkable goal to win the game 5-3.
1979 - Bastille Day in Auckland
The French pulled off a stunning win at Eden Park on their most sacred day of the year, running in four tries and impressing everyone with their enterprising play.
Captained by the blonde-maned Jean-Pierre Rives, France ran the ball from everywhere and took the momentum with them to win the Five Nations when they returned home that northern winter.
Wayne 'Buck' Shelford performs the Haka in 1989. Photo: photosport
1986 - Baby Blacks and Buck's busted balls
Only a year after the Rainbow Warrior terrorist attack in Auckland Harbour, an All Black team with 13 new caps beat France 18-9 in Christchurch in one of the most famous and unlikely wins ever.
The end of that year saw an infamous return in Nantes, where France got revenge 16-3 and also dished out perhaps the most famously gruesome All Black injury of all time.
A French boot connected with Wayne Shelford's scrotum, tearing it open but not forcing the legendary number eight to leave the field.
1987 - The first World Cup final
The two sides met again in the biggest game of all less than a year later, with the All Blacks comfortably winning 29-9 and setting the stage for what the tournament would become in the years since.
Two of the All Black try scorers that day - Michael Jones and John Kirwan - have been knighted, as was coach Brian Lochore.
Jonah Lomu sings the national anthem during the New Zealand v France game on. 3 July 1994. The All Blacks lost 23-20. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
1994 - The try from the end of the world
Much is made of the fact that the All Blacks have not lost at Eden Park since 1994, but also that it took possibly the greatest team try ever to do it.
The 23-20 win by France that day sealed a series victory and added Jean-Luc Sadourny's late score to the pantheon of all-time sports highlights.
1999 - The French ambush
It seemed like a walk in the park for the All Blacks at Twickenham at the 1999 World Cup, and it was for the first hour.
Down 24-10, the French suddenly woke up and launched an incredible spell of rugby that snatched the game away before their shocked opponents even knew what was going on.
The 43-31 result meant the end of John Hart's coaching career and even though France went on the lose the final to the Wallabies, it remains one of the biggest World Cup shocks ever.
2007 - The forward pass
Even though the All Blacks were bundled out 20-18 in a quarter final by a forward pass we have certainly heard enough about, it is often overlooked that really, losing to France at the time should not have been that much of shock.
After all, they came down to New Zealand and beat the All Blacks the very next year.
2011 - Beaver and all that
The fact that the All Blacks and France are in the same pool this year is a repeat of the 2011 tournament. Although if they are to meet in the final again, France will be hoping for a slightly less chaotic path to it.
As well as being comfortably beaten by the All Blacks in pool play, they also dropped a game to Tonga and only just made it to the quarters thanks to Tonga and Canada drawing.
The All Blacks players celebrate with try scorer Julian Savea during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Quarter Final against France. Photo: Getty Images
2015 - Runaway Bus
Julian Savea's finest hour came in Cardiff in the World Cup quarter final, putting in the closest impression anyone's done of Jonah Lomu when he laid waste to France.
The All Blacks won 64-13, a record between the two countries, on their way to comfortably retaining the World Cup.
2021 - France sends an ominous warning
Paris has been a regular destination for the All Blacks during the professional era, and until a couple of years ago hadn't actually lost in the French capital for 50 years.
However, the last test of 2021 was a very serious introduction to Ian Foster's All Blacks that things had changed quite considerably in French rugby, with Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack engineering a famous 40-25 win.
Ntamack in particular was superb, providing a highlight for the ages when he decided to run from his own dead ball line and almost setting up another iconic French try.
