5. MATTHIEU JALIBERT – FRANCE
France fans were watching on with baited breath, as Matthieu Jalibert led the line for Les Bleus in the absence of Romain Ntamack. Fabien Galthie’s first choice fly-half will miss the entire competition, after suffering an unfortunate ACL injury during the Summer. However, Jalibert proved to be a more than capable understudy, and orchestrated a magnificent win over the All Blacks.
There was pre-empting expectations that the Bordeax-Begles man would be carried by his halfback partner Antoine Dupont, in the early stages of this must win match against New Zealand. However, it was in fact Dupont that had a slow start, with uncharacteristic errors making Jalibert jump into action at the aid of his captain. The 24-year-old was able to shake of any early nerves, and produced the goods in a memorable clash at the Stade de France.
Jalibert’s starring moment saw him provide an exquisite assist to Damien Penaud’s second half try, that took the match out of sight for the All Blacks. His unpredictable offence forced Mark Telea to rush up for a tackle, which opened up the space out wide for Penaud to score. A narrow knock on from Penaud later stopped what could have been an early contender for try of the tournament, after Jalibert’s neat nudge into the back-field once again split the All Blacks apart.