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All Blacks gear up for France match

New Zealand All Black flyhalf Carlos Spencer, left, and winger Joe Rokocoko before a practice session in Melbourne, yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

With first or second place not possible, New Zealand has decided third won't be such a bad achievement at the Rugby World Cup.

The All Blacks, just three days after a demoralizing 22-10 loss to Australia in a semifinal, named their strongest possible team yesterday to take on France in the match tomorrow for third place.

France, beaten 24-7 Sunday by England in the other semifinal, named a starting team with 13 changes -- including a new captain to replace the retired Fabien Galthie -- from its oceanfront base at Bondi Beach.

About 10km north, England, one of the finalists along with Australia for the championship match Saturday, continued training from its apparently bug-free base at seaside Manly, where coach Clive Woodward admitted a technology expert has "swept" the team's meetings rooms to ensure no one is stealing training secrets ahead of the final.

Australia held another workout Tuesday under cloudy skies at the resort town of Coffs Harbour, about 500km north of Sydney and the team's usual year-round base.

England captain Martin Johnson during a news conference at the team's hotel in Manly, Sydney, yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS

In the southern city of Melbourne, where the All Blacks have trained since the start of the quarterfinals, only injured halfback Justin Marshall was missing from the starting XV that lost to the Wallabies. Australian-born halfback Steve Devine replaces Marshall at the scrumbase.

Flyhalf Frederic Michalak, who missed four penalty goals in France's loss to England, has been relegated to the bench for the New Zealand match.

Gerald Merceron, who came on late in the match as a replacement for Michalak, has earned the flyhalf spot.

"It's very tough to get back after such a tough game," coach Bernard Laporte said through an interpreter of the decision to drop Michalak to the bench.

"Fred's there on the bench and ready to play," he said. "But in fairness to Gerald, who had a good game when he came off the bench Sunday, it's logical to give him a run on at flyhalf."

Scrumhalf Galthie, who officially announced his retirement Monday, will be replaced as captain for the match by hooker Yannick Bru.

Four members of the French squad were unavailable for the match due to injury; prop Olivier Milloud (neck), Imanol Harinordoquy (wrist), Serge Betsen (knee) and Christophe Dominici (knee).

Betsen was cited for a kicking incident against England scrumhalf Matt Dawson after the semifinal and will appear before a judiciary Wednesday.

Woodward said England is using anti-bugging devices to make sure no one is listening in on the team's hotel or team meetings.

"Sometimes people don't understand the huge stakes that we are playing for," Woodward said.
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