Within two years the pair had been repatriated on medical grounds. Neither agent stayed long in their tropical prison. The two agents had been deported from New Zealand to the island of Hao in French Polynesia in July 1986 to serve out their prison sentences in accordance with a UN-sponsored agreement in return France issued a formal apology and paid millions in compensation to both Greenpeace and the New Zealand government. The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior continued to simmer under the surface, creating distrust and discord between France and New Zealand. He was talking in a sporting context, or was he?īuck Shelford and the All Blacks were involved in a Test of unmatched ferocity in the ‘Battle of Nantes’ (Photo by Mark Leech/Getty Images)
“It’s an unbelievable revenge we achieved,” said France coach Jacques Fouroux afterwards. It has subsequently been alleged that some of the French side were high on amphetamines that day perhaps, or maybe their ferocity was fuelled by national pride, and when they tore into the All Blacks they were striking a blow for their two imprisoned secret agents. “It bloody well hurt,” he remembered, although he returned to fray, only to be knocked out by a flying French prop. New Zealand No8 Wayne Shelford bore the brunt of the French fury, requiring 20 stitches to repair his torn scrotum. It was a brutal encounter, reputed to be one of the most violent Test matches ever.
The second Test of the series was a week later in Brittany, what came to be known as the ‘Battle of Nantes’. Only 24,000 fans turned up to Lancaster Park in Christchurch to see New Zealand pull off a surprise 18-9 win against the reigning Five Nations champions.įive months later, a full-strength New Zealand side beat France in Toulouse. Those players were ineligible for the French Test and their callow replacements, dubbed the ‘Baby Blacks’, had other things on their mind than avenging the Rainbow Warrior. The media attempted to turn it into a grudge match, but it was a challenge for New Zealand to seize the moral high ground given that a rebel All Blacks side had just toured South Africa. In June 1986, New Zealand and France met on the rugby field for the first time since the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. The ‘Battle of Nantes’ was reputed to be one of the most violent Test matches ever. “People who come to this country and commit terrorist activities cannot expect to have a short holiday at the expense of our government and return home as heroes,” remarked the judge. In November 1985, the pair – Major Alain Mafart and Captain Dominique Prieur – were jailed for 10 years.
Prime Minister David Lange accused France of committing “a sordid act of state-backed international terrorism”, and he promised that the two agents, if convicted, would feel the full force of the law. New Zealand were enraged with the tepid French response. They acted on orders.”īut France stopped short of apologising, nor did they condemn their agents because, in the words of Fabius, it would “be unacceptable to expose soldiers who merely obeyed orders and who have carried out very dangerous missions for our country in the past”. In September 1985, French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius admitted: “French secret agents sunk this boat. The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior caused a massive rift between France and New Zealand (Photo by Sydney Freelance/Liaison)įor two months the French government denied they had anything to do with the atrocity, but the arrest in New Zealand of the two agents forced them to come clean. The vessel was refloated but scuttled two years later and there have since been two more Rainbow Warriors, the third of which sailed up the Clyde in October. On the night of July 10, 1985, two French secret service agents clamped two mines to the hull of the Rainbow Warrior and sent it to the bottom of Auckland harbour, along with Fernando Pereira, a Greenpeace photographer. In response to the French declaration, Greenpeace dispatched its ship to the Pacific to protest against the nuclear testing. As a result of the nuclear testing of France and other nations, an environmental pressure group called Greenpeace was founded in 1971 and by 1985 they had their own vessel, the Rainbow Warrior, a 40-metre former British trawler.