The rest of the team as expected.  Muliaina at fullback becomes the second most capped All Black of all time, his 82 edging past (I hate it when reports say, as they will, eclipses) JUstin Marshall's 81 tests.  McCaw will be playing his 80th test, putting him 4th in the all time cap total.  Both players will go very close to Sean Fitzpatrick's All Black record of 92 tests next year, barring injury.  And both will be pushing for the three figure mark in 2011 - World Cup year.  Hmmm, 100 tests in the World Cup final, now that would be nice, but I digress.

The starting team as expected and picked by even the most non knowledgeable rugby fans.  A real no brainer.  Which is why the media would have all got it right...  The bench though, a bit of a juggle there.  Specialist openside cover in Tanerau Latimer comes into the mix (McCaw carrying an injury?), Boric supersedes Eaton (it was a matter of time), and the next best hooker and prop, Flynn  and Franks slot in. 

The backs though, while a better mix than the three that benched up against England, well, thjey still don't fill you with confidence!  Ellis, (Ellis, who the fuck is Ellis, to borrow the lyrics from a song) get the reserve halfback gig (oh yay, more halfbacks caught by props at maul time), Donald covers Carter (well, is there in case Carter dies and has to get carted off the field), and Lucky Luke, living on past glories get the third bench spot.  Once again we have to pray their is not a chance in a million triple injury for numbers 9, 10 and 12 in the opening minutes of the test match and those three hit the field. 

A few random observations on the team.  The tight five, all from different provinces, and from four different Super 14 teams.  Would be a while since that has happened so constantly at this level, unlike in the past where you would have pretty much a front row from one union, or at least a pair plus one other bloody good prop!  Oliver, Hoeft, Meeuws, Fitzy, Brown, Down being two trios that spring to mind.

The loose trio this week follows truer to the above form, with two Cantabs, mcCaw and Reid joined by Kaino.  Again, looking back, you always seemed to have at least two from the same province in the great trios - Collins and So'oilao with McCaw.  Michael Jones with Alan Whetton with Buck from Harbour, then Jones and Zinny with Kronfeld. 

The numbers of Crusaders in the forwards, and Hurricanes in the backs.  Lends credence to the Bob Scott'ism that forwards win matches, back decide by how much.  Changed slightly though, to 'test quality forwards win championships, test quality backs, if they have crap forwards, win squat'!  And you will note there also, and helping to prove that new old adage, that there are no Chief tight forwards in the All Blacks, let alone the test side, and just the two Chiefs forwards there, one a dirty dirty, the other warming the bench behind captain fantastic!

The French, well, they all have un-spellable, un-pronounceable names, will be hard as nails, as dirty as a week old dag, and will be, as usual, hard to beat.

But we'll beat them.  McCaw and Carter are back, the 2 man team, how can you beat them...

All Blacks:  1. Tony Woodcock (60 caps, North Harbour, Blues) 2. Andrew Hore (46, Taranaki, Hurricanes) 3. Neemia Tialata (40, Wellington, Hurricanes) 4. Brad Thorn (36, Canterbury, Crusaders) 5. Tom Donnelly (5, Otago, Highlanders) 6. Jerome Kaino (24, Auckland, Blues) 7. Richie McCaw (79, captain, Canterbury, Crusaders) 8. Kieran Read (15, Canterbury, Crusaders) 9. Jimmy Cowan (32, Southland, Highlanders) 10. Dan Carter (65, Canterbury, Crusaders) 11. Sitiveni Sivivatu (42, Waikato, Chiefs) 12. Ma’a Nonu (45, Wellington, Hurricanes) 13. Conrad Smith (32, Wellington, Hurricanes) 14. Cory Jane (11, Wellington, Hurricanes) 15. Mils Muliaina (81, Waikato, Chiefs)
Reserves:  16. Corey Flynn (6, Canterbury, Crusaders) 17. Owen Franks (8, Tasman. Crusaders) 18. Anthony Boric (12, North Harbour, Blues) 19. Tanerau Latimer (4, Bay of Plenty, Chiefs) 20. Andy Ellis (13, Canterbury, Crusaders) 21. Stephen Donald (18, Waikato, Chiefs) 22. Luke McAlister (29, North Harbour, Blues).

France:  1. Fabien Barcella, 2.William Servat, 3.Sylvain Marconnet, 4.Sebastien Chabal, 5.Romain Millo-Chluski, 6.Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 7.Fulgence Ouedraogo, 8.Julien Bonnaire, 9.Julien Dupuy, 10.Francois Trinh-Duc, 11.Maxime Medard, 12.Yannick Jauzion,13.David Marty, 14.Vincent Clerc, 15.Damien Traille.
Replacements: 16.Dimitri Szarzewski, 17.Nicolas Mas, 18.Lionel Nallet, 19.Julien Puricelli, 20.Morgan Parra, 21.Yann David, 22.Cedric Heymans.

• The All Blacks have played France 48 times since 1906 with 35 wins to New Zealand, 12 to France and one draw. They have played France twice this year, with France winning 27-22 in Dunedin in June this year and the All Blacks winning 14-10 in Wellington the following week. The All Blacks have played France in Marseille once before, in November 2000, losing 33-42 at Stade Velodrome.