Kylian Mbappe appeared to be confused during the 2023 Rugby World Cup opener between France and New Zealand

France got their Rugby World Cup campaign off to a perfect start, defeating New Zealand in a thrilling match in Paris.The hosts ran away with the victory in the final 25 minutes, regaining the lead and securing a heavy score in their favour.Kylian Mbappe’s confusion while watching the game has gone viral, with footage showing him ‘trying to understand rugby.’

France got their 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign off to the perfect start as they came from behind to defeat New Zealand in a thriller in Paris. The match was billed as one of the games of the group stages, with two of the favourites to win the tournament doing battle at Stade de France. Those that attended the match in Saint-Denis did not leave disappointed.

France, unbeaten at home since 2021, had the advantage at the break but it was The All Blacks that took the lead just after half-time courtesy of Mark Telea’s try.

But the hosts were not to be denied and they ran away with it in the final 25 minutes. Damian Penaud’s 55th minute try saw Les Bleus regain the lead and they did not look back from there. A pair of successful penalties from Thomas Ramos meant France led 22-13 with six minutes remaining. The All Blacks gave everything they had to get back in the game but Fabien Galthié’s side wrapped up the victory when Melvyn Jaminet bundled the ball over the try line with minutes of the match remaining.

Galthié shared his delight after France got their campaign off to a winning start. He said, per RugbyPass: “It was important to get off to a good start after all the work we’ve put in preparing for this match. We were under a lot of pressure in the first half, and we found it hard to break free. They scored very early, rather easily. Then we lost Julien Marchand. We started the match in the worst possible way – but that’s all part of the game. We got a bit caught up in the atmosphere. But we went into the dressing room in front, thanks to our discipline.“Then in the second half, our finishers enabled us to regain control of the match, but not immediately. Again, they scored from our mistakes when we could have done better. But we won the arm-wrestle. That enabled us to keep in touch with New Zealand, particularly in our weaker moments, and then meant we regained control of the second half, and also meant Thomas Ramos could keep us in touch with his kicking. At the end of the day, it’s a heavy score in our favour.”

Video of Kylian Mbappe during France vs New Zealand goes viralAmong those in attendance at the Stade de France were France football players, Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele and Dayot Upamecano. The quartet are currently on international duty but were in the crowd to show their support. Footage of Mbappe during the game has gone viral.

Kylian Mbappe in action for France

A video posted by the official Rugby World Cup Twitter account shows the home French crowd bursting into celebration during the game. Griezmann is among the players that shared his delight as he jumped up in the air and waved a France flag. Mbappe looked rather confused, though, and only throws his hands up in the air after a few seconds after everyone else did the same. After a brief smile, the 24-year-old looked around and clapped, again with an apparent look of confusion.

Twitter user Get French Football News shared the video to their page with the caption: ‘Kylian trying to understand rugby’. The video has gone viral, picking up over 3.7 million views, 3.5k reposts and 33k ‘likes’ at the time of writing. View it below…

What next for Mbappe?Mbappe will be back on the football pitch on Tuesday September 12 when France take on Germany on at Signal Iduna Park. Whether he is at France’s next Rugby World Cup match – against Uruguay on Thursday September 14 at Stade Pierre-Mauroy – remains to be seen.