It is a heist at the Louvre that has captured the imagination of the Paris public of late but for French rugby fans, this weekend will bring back the uncomfortable memories of a perceived robbery of a different kind. It is two years and three weeks, or thereabouts, since the Springboks stormed the Stade de France on a night of rugby nirvana that ended with a host nation in mourning and South Africa marching towards consecutive tournament crowns.
“For us, the French people, it’s really stuck with us,” France scrum half Maxime Lucu admitted this week. “It was our World Cup and they came and took it off us.” Other squad members have dismissed any sense of a narrative built around revenge or redemption but a return to the scene of the crime will no doubt stir certain feelings. Closing Rugby World Cup quarter-final weekend that may still be the high watermark of the international game, just a single point separated France and the Springboks come the close of a colossal contest of ferocious, fearsome intensity as South Africa mastered the margins again, from Eben Etzebeth goalline knockdown to Cheslin Kolbe’s blocking of Thomas Ramos’s conversion.
Their Saturday night rendezvous scarcely needs any more selling but this very much feels like the best against the best. The new Nations Championship, for which fixtures may be confirmed as soon as next week, will soon come to contextualise this November Test window, culminating in a finals weekend, and yet this meeting of Six Nations champions and Rugby Championship winners brings together the class of the northern and southern hemisphere. England’s win over Australia means France have tumbled out of the top four of the World Rugby rankings but by just about every other metric this is the best against the best.
“South Africa are the best team in the world, perhaps even the best that has ever existed,” France head coach Fabien Galthie effused. “They have fifteen players chasing us. On the ground and in the air, they're a team of hunters. How do we avoid being hunted and become hunters? That's what we've been working on, that's what's at stake on Saturday.”
One should not overplay the pair’s superiority in a year in which both have suffered defeats but there are ways in which they are ahead of the game. Clearly, as rugby moves increasingly towards a world in which physicality and flexibility are the bywords for success, the fearsome forwards and squad adaptability possessed in either camp mark them out as ahead of the game. Where South Africa led the way with a seven/one bench split, France have followed – though neither side has gone for the gambit on this occasion, forward fortifications nonetheless lurk, including Springboks centre-cum-flanker Andre Esterhuizen.
Within the selections can be seen how both sides have developed depth amid, or perhaps because of, challenging club schedules. It has been detailed in these pages recently how South Africa have been forced to rotate with many top Springboks plying their trade on a northern hemisphere club schedule but a southern hemisphere Test itinerary, but France have also felt the pressures of a Top 14 season that extends from the start of September to the end of June. For Galthie, it meant few first-choice individuals travelled to New Zealand for three Tests in the summer; three Test defeats may be the reason for France’s fall down the rankings but the fact that a second-string ran the All Blacks close illustrated the strengths of their stocks.
Some of those who impressed – including tighthead Regis Montagne, mountainous by name and nature – have earned elevation into a starting side of close to full strength, with Gael Fickou continuing as skipper with Antoine Dupont working his way back from the torn ACL sustained in the Six Nations. If it is a shame not to see the scrum half take on the Springboks, not least for how rare his meetings with the big southern hemisphere beasts are, there is no shortage of ingenuity in a back three of Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Damian Penaud and Thomas Ramos.
Much the same could be said of South Africa, who welcome back Damian Willemse to complement the rich playmaking gifts of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. In a sign of the evolving identity of the Springboks, Rassie Erasmus is increasingly eschewing Handre Pollard’s big match energy for Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s more flamboyant touches. There is no doubt that the 23-year-old has the talent; this trip to Paris will be a test of his ticker and temperament.
Elsewhere, though, the double world champions have a clear experience advantage – there are 1101 caps within their 23 compared to France’s 588, with 99 of those provided by Siya Kolisi. Erasmus insisted that the landmark cap for his captain would be no distraction. "When those milestones come, if you make them bigger than the match, then you tend to come second,” the head coach suggested.
"He's been on the tough side of being a South African and has grown to being a great leader in South Africa. His humbleness is something that is a standout for me.” There will be little time for humility, one feels, if the Springboks win this battle of the best.
