‘We enjoy this cauldron,’ says Erasmus about Boks taking on France on home turf

The Springboks won’t have any trouble getting themselves fired up for their massive Nations Championship encounter with France at the Stade de France in Saint Denis on Friday night (kick-off 10:10pm), according to coach Rassie Erasmus.

Over the past decade France have become one of the Boks’ biggest challengers outside of the All Blacks, along with Ireland, and a fierce rivalry has developed between the two nations.

However, the Boks have dominated fixtures between them over the past 16 years, winning nine of the last 10 games between the two, although the margins have been steadily getting closer.

Tight matches

Excluding last year when the Boks produced a stunning second half performance to bounce back from trailing 14-13 at halftime, with a man down after a first half permanent red card, to run away with a 32-17 win, their four previous matches were all settled within four points.

That includes France triumphing 30-26 in Marseille in 2022, which broke a seven game losing streak, while the Boks came out on top in Saint Denis 18-17 and 29-26 in 2017 and 2018 respectively, and won the big one, the World Cup quarterfinal in 2023, 29-28.

France were already smarting from that defeat and eager to gain revenge last year, only to be embarrassed by the 14-man visitors, so this time they will be even more fired up, and Erasmus said they were excited for the challenge.

“It’s like when we play New Zealand, Ireland or England, it doesn’t take a lot to get the team up. It’s intimidating, the French crowds in the French stadiums. But we enjoy this cauldron, and how they get behind their team,” said Erasmus.

“It’s not something a lot of players have experienced, so when they get the opportunity, they want to put their best foot forward. And in none of the (recent) games have we smashed them.”

Maverick Dupont

But if the Boks are to come out on top again on Friday night, they will need to handle France’s kicking game and their maverick superstar Antoine Dupont, who missed last year’s game through injury, and will be eager to make up for that, especially after he was in that losing team in 2023.

“They will always have a good kicking game with Dupont there. I don’t always know if Dupont’s teammates know exactly what he’s going to do next. He’s just really playing on instinct, which is tough to handle,” explained Erasmus

“We love to play a team that plays physically like us. I’m not sure if they will 100% play like that, but I know they won’t hide away from physical stuff.

“They’re always competitive at scrums, and they’re one of the teams that maul the most. Last year, they mauled 70% of their lineouts, even on their exit lineouts.

“In the past they had a long kicking game before the Dupont rule came in. Since then, you can see them move more to contestable and shorter kicks. And then obviously they’ve got their game-breakers.”

Kick-off on Friday night in Paris is at 10.10pm.