18 in a frenetic World Cup clash Wednesday night in a fitting end to a day that started with rugby heavyweights France being accused of cynically devaluing the tournament. The front page splash on New Zealand's best-selling Herald newspaper screamed that the French had turned Saturday's highly-anticipated clash with the All Blacks into a “farce” by naming a “B Team” for the Eden Park match. The thrust of the conspiracy theory is that France had named a weakened side because finishing second in Pool A would keep it away from the side of the draw likely to contain all three Tri-Nations teams. France lock forward Pascal Pape laughed off the accusation as a desperate bid to sell newspapers but then warned that it might backfire on the hosts. “It is a lack of respect for the players chosen for Saturday,” he said.
