While Friday night’s Nations Championship clash between France and the Springboks pits the two leading sides in the tournament’s hemispheres against each other, there may be a lot more going into this game than simply 80 minutes of rugby.
The French - as Nick Mallett pointed out on the Talking Boks podcast this week - still harbour plenty of anger and animosity over the 2023 World Cup quarterfinal loss to the Springboks - a tournament that they felt they were destined to win.
And while the Boks have moved on, they probably still expect a bit of animosity when they get onto the Stade de France on Friday night, with a French side still talking about revenge.
Last year the Boks beat France handily with 14 men, but that hasn’t stopped the game from being talked up this week. As a possible dress rehearsal for the Nations Championship final in two weeks’ time, the game is set to be a cracker.
"What an extraordinary comeback in this Test match!" - @MattP555 The French hosted the Springboks just over a year ago in an instant classic 🇫🇷🇿🇦 What does Friday night have in store? #SSRugby | #NationsChampionship https://t.co/yFinvrnpXF
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Assistant coach Felix Jones wouldn’t be surprised if there is some of that animosity around, but believes the Boks will have the measure of their opposition if that happens and it will all be left on the field.
“To be honest with you, I would imagine that that still is there. I think it was such a significant game that I don’t think that goes away easily,” Jones said.
“So, you know, that niggle, a lot of that niggle is probably on the field. And again, it comes back to just the intensity about playing for the Springboks, and the French guys are the same.
“But most of that, I think, stops there.”
France and South Africa top their respective standings in the #NationsChampionship 🔝 Still no wins for Italy or Fiji who remain at the bottom of the two hemispheres. https://t.co/NjdsKQOUJL
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Jones pointed to the friendship between Fabien Galthié and Rassie Erasmus, as well as the fact that France supported South Africa in their arguments in the recent State of the Game meeting at World Rugby.
“Fabien [Galthié] is a guy who was one of the first coaches from outside of Ireland that I got to know. He came over and visited myself, Rassie and Jacques [Nienaber] when we were at Munster. Raphaël Ibañez did the same.
“So, look, there are some good relationships off the field. But certainly when we’re on the field, we want to win, and we have no doubt that they want to as well, given the results of the last one or two matches.”
Jones added that France had adapted well to the law changes, and believes they will have something different up their sleeve when the two teams meet.
“They put us under pressure last year with a lot of attacking-style kicks, trying to exploit as much space as they could in behind us, with a different style and a little bit of unpredictability that comes with that,” he said.
“So I think we’re expecting, again, a potential tactical element that we may not have seen.
“I think both teams have also had tactical battles which we’ve learned from, and I’m sure they’ve learned from us.
“We’re definitely anticipating some tactical nuances that we may not have seen already, and it could be in the form of some kicking.”
France will name their side for the clash on Wednesday.