The Springboks have played down the talk of “revenge” from France following the dramatic win over the 2023 World Cup hosts in Paris two years ago, rather looking to focus on their own game ahead of Saturday’s match in Paris.
The last time the two sides met, the Boks won a dramatic match by one point, putting the hosts out of the World Cup at the quarterfinal stage, and setting up their own run to claim back to back titles a few weeks later.
The French public was incensed with Ben O’Keefe’s refereeing, and Springbok players even received death threats after the win. It has been a common theme that the first time the two sides will meet again - this Saturday at the same Stade de France venue - will be a “revenge match” for the French to avenge their World Cup defeat.
The Springboks make a winning start to their Outgoing Tour ✅🏉
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 3, 2025
All focus is on Saturday's heavyweight clash at Stade de France 🍿#SSRugby | #QuilterNS pic.twitter.com/jnIqEEVrM1
Springbok assistant coach Felix Jones downplayed this on Monday, choosing rather to focus on the Boks build-up to their own title defence and the importance of a good result this weekend in their development as a side.
2023 GAME IS IN THE PAST
"What happened in 2023 was positive too for many other reasons, but that’s in the past. Our focus this week is to give ourselves the best chance to perform well on Saturday,” Jones said.
Asked if they were preparing for France’s revenge mindset, he said: “I don’t know, to be honest” “I’m not sure how they are talking about it in their camp. That said, it would be hard to deny that they would have some regrets from that game that they would like to make right.
“We enjoy it every time we’re here in France,” Jones added.
Brent Russell knows a thing or two about France 👀
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He thinks this might be the toughest test in the world right now for the Springboks 😤
Kick-off at 22:10 on Saturday night 📺 #SSRugby | #QuilterNS pic.twitter.com/tux1NTLyBG
“We’ve got fond memories, even from the match we lost in Marseille in 2022. What happened in 2023 was positive for many reasons – but that’s in the past. Our focus now is to give ourselves the best chance to perform well on Saturday.”
Jones was also asked, but wouldn’t commit, to a question whether this was the biggest test of the year for the Springboks.
NOT BIGGEST TEST MATCH
“I wouldn’t say any single test match is bigger than another one. There’s been some big games for us this year.
“We played against New Zealand and lost a test match against Australia at home, we also have Italy after this game, and later tour Ireland and Wales.
“So for us, every test match is massive. Every time we represent South Africa, it is huge,” he said.
“I can understand the extra attention that this match gets because of the quarterfinal in 2023, just like Ireland and New Zealand had a special match in 2023 as well.
Jones added that the Boks saw the French team as a “huge threat” and would need to get their selection correct for the game.
“They are a huge threat – their entire pack is tough, and they have quality players to select from,” Jones said.
LOTS OF DEPTH
“They’ve built a lot of depth there in the last few years. We are expecting this match to be as big a battle as it was against them in 2022 and 2023.
“Fabien Galthié has taken players who are lesser known on tour for their summer series a few times, and that’s a great exercise in building depth. But for this game, we are expecting them to select a different side.”
The Boks will name their team for the clash on Thursday.