Pakistan, July 6 -- Will Jordan scored two tries to secure a tense 500th Test victory for New Zealand, who desperately held off an energetic France side fielding eight debutants in the dying minutes to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

"Test footy," explained Robertson about how a France squad that had been derided in New Zealand as a "B-team" almost caused a monumental upset.

"Any French team that's on tour that's written off. it's going to put up a scrap and fight for everything," he said. "(France) didn't go away. It was a hell of a Test match." Of the 42 players France brought on tour to New Zealand, 20 were uncapped.

The inexperience had some former players suggesting France would face a drubbing in Dunedin, and that they...