Malcolm Marx says ‘past counts for nothing’ as Springboks aim to storm Paris

World champions South Africa have won nine of their last 10 Tests against France, but hooker Malcolm Marx said that will have no bearing on Friday’s Nations Championship clash.

Kick-off is at 22:10 (SA time).

READ | How the Springboks looked the last time they played France

Not lost in Paris in 21 years

The Springboks have not lost in Paris since 2005, winning on their last five visits to the French capital, including the 2023 World Cup quarter-final.

But four of the last five results between the teams have been decided by four points or less and Marx insisted on Tuesday that nothing that has come before will have a bearing on the next game.

“We can’t rely on past results to get us through,” he said.

“That is the record, but we know how dangerous France are as a team and the threat that they pose, not just (their) set piece but in all facets of the game.”

France’s unpredictability is one of those facets that South Africa have been focusing on in the build-up to the game, but so has been Les Bleus’ forward power.

“There is a form of unpredictability,” said Marx, the reigning World Rugby player of the year.

“If you look at how they play and the different styles that they play, it’s really entertaining rugby, and it’s really good, but they’ve always got a dominant forward pack and a big forward pack up front.”

‘Dark, grey, cold’

France have been hit with a slew of injuries at flyhalf, with coach Fabien Galthie widely expected to pick scrumhalf Maxime Lucu to wear the number 10 jersey on Friday, something he has done numerous times for his club Bordeaux-Begles.

Springboks assistant coach and former Irish international back Felix Jones said that France have the talent to cope with the absence of Matthieu Jalibert, Romain Ntamack and Thomas Ramos.

“Fabien’s done a great job in building the depth of the squad, and whoever plays at flyhalf, if it’s Maxime Lucu, they still have quite a lot of quality that can step in,” he said.

“(They have) real natural footballers and guys who have played at a very high level for their club – in Bordeaux if it is Lucu – so, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a massive weakness.

“I think it probably brings a bit of an unpredictability.”

READ | Malcolm Marx rewrites Springbok history books with Italy double

Weather factor

Another factor will be the weather.

While South Africa have been trying to play a more expansive game recently, Jones said that “within that there’s always going to be a DNA or a soul or an identity that a certain team has”.

And a northern hemisphere November does not favour running rugby.

“We’ve just come off a training session where it was pretty wet,” he said.

“It’s dark, it’s grey, it’s cold and it’s raining when we play this time of year in November, when we’re playing in the northern hemisphere.

“So, it can be difficult to play a certain style and certain tactics demand you to play in a certain way when you play this time of year up north.”

Teams

France

TBA

South Africa

15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche

Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)

By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse