All Black wing Rieko Ioane warns ‘dangerous’ France are no B-team

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New Zealands Rieko Ioane has warned his team not to underestimate a weakened France side.

PHOTO: REUTERS

DUNEDIN – All Blacks wing Rieko Ioane said on July 3 he expects French players to have a chip on their shoulder after being dubbed a B-team ahead of the three match series against New Zealand.

France sent a squad with 20 uncapped players to New Zealand for the three-Test series which begins on July 5 in Dunedin.

But Ioane, who has been moved to the wing by head coach Scott Robertson for the first time in four years, said he was not viewing France as a B-team.

“If I was that team travelling over here, I would have that chip on my shoulder, you know,” he said.

“Everyone’s calling them a B-team, but they aren’t. The energy they bring and the intensity that they train at will be at a level that some of their players that are at home would bring during a Test week.

“So if anything, they’re more of a dangerous beast than we’re going to be used to, and we’ve got to expect everything.”

Former All Blacks have been vocal in their criticism of the weakened French squad.

Ex-scrum-half Justin Marshall told Sky Sport that the squad was “total BS” and France were sending only a development team.

New Zealand media have highlighted that 11 of the 20 new caps do not have Wikipedia pages.

“I know there’s been a lot of talk about it, but I’m not sure that the players would feel that way,” Ioane added.

“We know that