Three players and several staff members came to represent the All Blacks at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Friday, the day before the summit match between the French XV and the New Zealanders.
On a video posted on the New Zealand rugby team’s Instagram account, we can see Sam Cane, Josh Lord and Ethan de Groot laying a wreath on this grave before paying tribute to the soldier in a moment of contemplation.
With this moment of tribute, the All Blacks come to pay tribute to the memory of the 100,000 New Zealand soldiers who came to France during the First World War. “It’s an experience full of humility, to be honest”, testifies to the camera Sam Cane, who has also forfeited the match against the XV of France, and whose jacket is emblazoned with a “poppy”, a poppy. in tribute to the sacrifices made during the war of 14-18.
This sequence is reminiscent of that of September 2023, a few days before the start of the Rugby World Cup, during which the All Blacks performed a very moving haka in the Longueval Memorial, in the Somme. A marked tribute to the New Zealand soldiers who fell during the First World War. In this cemetery lie 125 of the 1,200 New Zealand soldiers who died in action during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
