France v South Africa - Teams and Prediction

PREVIEW: There will be no love lost when France welcomes South Africa to the Stade de France for their Nations Championship clash on Friday evening.

South Africa will gun for their third consecutive victory over France since losing to Les Bleus in 2022 in Marseille.

The hosts have some unwanted history on their side which they’ll want to change this weekend.

The French haven’t beaten South Africa at the Stade de France since 2005, and lost nine out of their last 10 encounters against the Springboks.

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Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus touched on the subject and explained why he feels the Boks do so well against France, be it home or away.

“I just think we always tend to get ourselves up for games against France. I’m not saying that’s the reason for our good record against them,” Erasmus said on Monday.

“The French crowd and the stadiums are intimidating; it’s foreign to us, but it’s really enjoyable.

“Even when we lost in 2022 [in Marseille], when Pieter-Steph got a red card, and we managed to scrape through the other games against Les Bleus, being behind up until the 60th minute in those games.

“But I think it’s more of a respect thing; it’s like when we play New Zealand, Ireland, or England, it doesn’t take a lot to get a team up for the challenge.

“We also enjoy this cauldron and the vibe the French people do and how they get behind their team.

“It’s not something many of our players have experienced, so when they get the opportunity, they want to put their best foot forward to represent themselves, their family and the country.

“Again, I’m not saying that’s the reason we’re winning because we might end up losing on Saturday.

“But there’s a lot of respect, and we really enjoy the way they bring the physicality combined with their dangerous backs despite missing some big names.”

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“It’s going to be quite intense” 🇿🇦🇫🇷

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🌐#Rugby365 #FRAvRSA #NationsChampionship

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Is the favourites tag still applicable?

Erasmus questioned whether the so-called favourites tag is still applicable in the modern game and added what the downside is if a team sees themselves as that.

“I sometimes struggle to understand whether whichever team holds the favourites tag makes a difference,” Erasmus said.

“We analyse the opposition and the referee. We play on the same field, and there are two assistant referees and a TMO.

“Nobody can hurt you on the field; the crowd is intimidating, but they can’t kill you, so you know, being the favourites is probably a case of both teams thinking they might hold that tag.

“The only thing about thinking that you are the favourites is that you might become complacent, and we are definitely not complacent for this game.”

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The little generals prepare for a heavyweight battle

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— Rugby365 (@rugby365com) November 11, 2026

France head coach Fabien Galthie made an interesting selection at No.10, with Antoine Dupont backed as the general following a flyhalf injury crisis.

Dupont partners with Maxime Lucu, named at scrumhalf as his halfback partner.

This fixture will mark the first time Dupont starts at No.10 for Les Bleus.

It’s a surprise pick, given that Lucu has played flyhalf for Bordeaux in recent times and he came off the bench against Fiji in the general role last week.

France are missing four big-name flyhalves due to injury: Romain Ntamack, Matthieu Jalibert, and Antoine Hastoy. Utility back Tomas Ramos, who can also play at No. 10, is also unavailable.

Galthie explained his reasons for his halfback combination selection.

“We took a lot of pleasure in tackling this challenge of designing something which could bring us greater stability and balance in our playmaking,” said Galthie of the surprise selection.

“These are two players with a lot of experience; they are two icons in France… and in the world, who we wanted to align together to lead the team on Friday night.”

The big talking point this week was the forward battle.

Last year, South Africa got the better of Les Bleus up front in their 32-17 victory.

The Boks opted to make minimal changes to their forward pack, which started against Italy with Wilco Louw and Thomas du Toit swapping roles, with the latter dropping to the bench.

With the Boks team named on Monday, Galthie bolstered his pack.

Julien Marchand starts at hooker in place of Maxime Lamothe, while Gregory Alldritt features for Les Bleus for the first time this season at No.8 following an injury to Paul Boudehent.

Galthie explained why he opted to start Alldritt after not featuring for several months for the national side.

“He’s a player who has battled to come back into the French team, and the opportunity is there for him,” Galthie said.

“He’s a player with a lot of experience, and he uses it.

“When he speaks, he’s listened to, he’s followed, he has charisma.

“He’s a great guy; he’s an example of giving his all for the team.”

*Also read: Springboks v France: The emotion, hostility and drama of the 2025 Test

Touching on the Boks, Galthie is under no illusions about what awaits his team and what he expects from Rassie Erasmus’ troops.

“They’re double world champions, and right now they’re amongst the best ever rugby teams in the world; that’s what they’re building,” he said.

“They’re effective in every area. In the air, there’s very little space with them; on the ground, there’s very little space with them; there are very few gaps with them.

“To get out wide, you have to first go through the middle, where they are very aggressive and win a lot of collisions.

“Against South Africa, there’s very little space, very little time and a constant physical dimension, which means that the physical battle affects the strategic, technical and tactical side of things.

“But that’s a good thing because it allows us to push our limits where we want to evolve.”

Players to watch:

For France: Theo Attissogbe, who usually plays on the wing, is named at fullback and has big shoes to fill in the absence of Tomas Ramos. The big question will linger around the call of Dupont at flyhalf – the captain could swap roles during the match with Lucu as a tactical change. Gregory Alldritt will have eyes on him following his long absence from the Test scene, but when on song, he is a lethal ball carrier and links well with the backline.

For South Africa: The entire backline is a well-oiled machine that did some proper damage this season, but a special mention should go out to Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel, who will play their 50th Test as a centre partnership, and that could be the difference coming up against Les Bleus rejigged backline. The tight five will have a massive role to play in the scrums to ensure clean ball for those lethal backs to attack, with Wilco Louw as the anchor in place of Thomas du Toit as the only change in the forwards from the team that started against Italy.

*See the teams and prediction below!

Prediction:

Rugby365: South Africa by five points

Teams:

France: 15 Théo Attissogbe, 14 Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, 13 Kalvin Gourgues, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Antoine Dupont, 9 Maxime Lucu (captain), 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Cameron Woki, 6 François Cros, 5 Mickaël Guillard, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 3 Sipili Falatea, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros.
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Régis Montagne, 19 Charles Ollivon, 20 Tom Staniforth, 21 Esteban Capilla, 22 Axel Desperes, 23 Emilien Gailleton.

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.

Date: Friday, November 13
Venue: Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Kick-off: 21.10 CET (22.10 SAST; 20.10 GMT)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)