All Blacks v France: Jamie Hannah, Fehi Fineanganofo react to making test debuts

Jamie Hannah, Fehi Fineanganofo and Xavier Numia all became All Blacks for the first time in Saturday night’s 34-32 victory over France in Christchurch.

The trio were introduced from the bench in the second half in the opening test of Dave Rennie’s tenure.

For Hannah, his debut came as a complete surprise.

The lock wasn’t named in Rennie’s initial 34-man squad for the Nations Championship, but was brought into camp as injury cover for Tupou Va’ai.

Even then, he wasn’t selected in the match-day 23 to face France.

However, after Patrick Tuipulotu succumbed to a calf injury, the 23-year-old got the call just hours before kickoff that he would be making his test debut.

He played the final 12 minutes, with the Christchurch test allowing family and friends to witness the occasion in person.

“It’s all happened so fast, so there hasn’t been much processing time to be fair. I only found out I was in at lunchtime,” Hannah said.

“I got an idea yesterday at captain’s run, and then it got confirmed this morning. In a way, it was good, just getting straight in there and straight out to get into it. It was unreal.”

Hannah said pulling on the black jersey was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream.

“Like every young kid in New Zealand, it’s a childhood dream and to get the opportunity to do it in front of my friends and family was just unreal.

“All my friends and family already had tickets, so it’s been unreal the last few hours.”

Fineanganofo’s debut had been widely anticipated after a stellar Super Rugby Pacific campaign, where he equalled the competition’s single-season tryscoring record with 17, alongside Hurricanes teammate Josh Moorby.

The 22-year-old admitted the emotions of becoming an All Black overwhelmed both he and his family after the final whistle.

“They couldn’t stop crying, and I was just trying to keep strong and not cry outside. I’ll cry back in the changing room,” Fineanganofo said.

Once he stepped on to the field, his thoughts immediately turned to those who had supported him throughout his journey.

“I couldn’t believe it at first, but once I got on, I just couldn’t stop thinking about my family and how proud they would be.”

Despite his outstanding Super form, Fineanganofo said the nerves before his debut were unlike anything he had experienced.

“I didn’t think I’d be that nervous. I was sitting on the bench nearly vomiting. At halftime, I was in the toilet spewing. I felt better after it.”

The All Blacks now travel to Wellington for their second Nations Championship match against Italy next weekend. Italy opened their campaign with a 27-10 loss to Japan in Tokyo.

Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.