France ended 15 years of heartache on New Zealand soil with victory against the All Blacks in Dunedin.

It was just their fourth win since their first visit in 1961 and came 20 months after France bundled the same opponents out of the World Cup in Cardiff.

The French showed no mercy against an inexperienced New Zealand side shorn of their leading stars and now, as in 1994 when they last tasted success in New Zealand, 'Les Bleus' have the opportunity to push on for a series win when the teams head to Wellington for the second and final Test next weekend.

In the build-up to the clash at Carisbrook, All Blacks coach Graham Henry had talked about the match being a learning experience for his young charges - and it proved to be a tough lesson in the end.

The All Blacks were without Richie McCaw, Daniel Carter, Ali Williams, Rodney So'oialo, Conrad Smith, Sitiveni Sivivatu and a host of others.

They missed them, particularly McCaw. The French blasted the All Blacks off the ball in the rucks gaining crucial turnovers when the home side did press up field.

There was the usual rustiness expected in a first Test of the year but that was compounded by the new-look line-up to the All Blacks and the lack of time as combinations, particularly in the loose forwards of Adam Thomson, Kieran Read and Liam Messam.

That should not take away from what was a good French performance.

Their defence for the most part was outstanding but there was also the welcome return of seeing French players running with ball in hand.

French coach Marc Lievremont has encouraged his players to take a more attacking approach after the conservative years of Bernard Laporte, and their endeavours brought them tries from Francois Trinh-Duc and Williams Servat.

Full-back Maxime Medard scored an interception try nine minutes from the end which had appeared to give them a comfortable 10-point margin.

But a late try from Ma'a Nonu, following a first-half effort from Liam Messam, ensured a tense finish.

The early points came from the boots of Julien Dupuy and Stephen Donald who exchanged early penalties before French fly-half Trinh-Duc went over for the game's first try as he burst through the tackles of Kieran Read, Mils Muliaina, Liam Messam and Adam Thomson on his way to the try-line.

Half-back partner Julien Dupuy added the extras and the French were 10-3 ahead.

On 26 minutes Trinh-Duc fired a drop goal well wide but two minutes later hooker Servat was burrowing his way over.

The move began when a Messam grubber kick was collected by his opposite number Louis Picamoles and he tore up the right wing before firing the ball inside.

It was then passed through several pairs of hands as play swept up field before it reached Servat who went over and Dupuy kicked the conversion.

The All Blacks had a great opportunity to reply six minutes before the break but resilient French defence kept out Keven Mealamu, who came on for the injured Andrew Hore on 15 minutes, and Tony Woodcock, playing in his 50th Test.

With no way through, the ball was then spread wide but was dropped cold by Isaia Toeava and the chance went begging.

Donald narrowed the deficit to 17-6 with his second penalty and he was lining up a conversion barely a minute later.

Mealamu collected the re-start and a neat chip-kick by Jimmy Cowan was collected by Cory Jane who raced towards the French try-line, drew the defence and fired the pass to Messam who dived over in the corner for his first international try.

Two more Donald penalties locked the scores up at 17-17 midway through the second half.

Dupuy missed a three-pointer when Neemia Tialata was penalised for taking down the scrum, then Trinh-Duc was wide with a drop-goal attempt before Dupuy successfully slotted a penalty to edge the French ahead once more.

Medard's 60-metre race to dive under the posts sealed the famous victory but Nonu's late score in the left corner kept things interesting until the final whistle.