The last of Saturday’s November international rugby matches is one of the highlights of the whole series as France take on South Africa in Paris.
France v South Africa, Saturday 8th November, Paris, KO 22:10 (South African time)
Referee: Angus Gardner (RA)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Christophe Ridley (RFU)
TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
Weather Forecast – Paris
France:
France return to action after losing 3-0 in New Zealand in July. They were not at full strength for that series and after losing the first test narrowly (31-27) they went on to lose the second match 43-17 and the third 29-19.
In the Six Nations earlier this year France were crowned champions. They started with a 43-0 home win over Wales and their only defeat came against England at Twickenham (26-25). They won 74-23 in Italy and 42-27 in Ireland before sealing the title with a 35-16 home win over Scotland, finishing 1 point clear of England and 2 better off than Ireland.
In the 2024 November internationals France beat Japan (52-12), New Zealand (30-29) and Argentina (37-23).
Les Bleus now renew rivalry with the Springboks who knocked them out of the 2023 RWC at the quarter final stage with a 29-28 victory in Paris.
After this France will play Fiji and then Australia
South Africa:
The Boks began their end of year program against Japan at Wembley last week and they scored 9 tries on their way to a 61-7 victory, easily covering a pre-match handicap line which had opened at -38.5 points.
Prior to that South Africa clinched the Rugby Championship title, winning 4 and losing 2 of their matches. They began that tournament with a 38-22 defeat to Australia in Johannesburg, but they bounced back in the following round in getting the better of the Wallabies 30-22 in Cape Town.
The first match of a double header against the All Blacks in New Zealand saw the Boks go down 24-17 in Auckland but a Round 4 clash in Wellington turned the tide in South Africa’s favour as a superb display saw them crush New Zealand 43-10. Back to back wins over Argentina, 67-30 at home and 29-27 in the final round at Twickenham clinched the title.
South Africa’s mid year program was fairly low key but they reeled off wins over the Barbarians (54-7), Italy (42-24 and 45-0) and Georgia (55-10).
In the November international series of 2024 South Africa won in Scotland (32-15), in England (29-20) and Wales (45-12).
After this the Boks will take on Italy, Ireland and finally Wales.
Recent Head to Head
Oct 2023 RWC Paris France 28-29 South Africa
Nov 2022 INT Marseille France 30-26 South Africa
Nov 2018 INT Paris France 26-29 South Africa
Nov 2017 INT Paris France 17-18 South Africa
Team News
France: 15 Tomas Ramos, 14 Damien Penaud, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Gaël Fickou, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Nolan le Garrec, 8 Mickaël Gullard, 7 Paul Boudehent, 6 Anthony Jelonch, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Régis Montagne, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Baptiste Erdocio.
Replacements: 16 Guillaume Cramont, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Dorian Aldegheriz 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Hugo Auradou, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Maxime Lucu, 23 Nicolas Depoortère
South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Ruan Nortje, 21 Andre Esterhuizen, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok
The Betting
Updated 07 Nov 22h03
France 11/10
Draw 25/1
South Africa 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Bet Builder
I have been meaning to give these Bet Builders a try and this one is at Hollywoodbets
Total points under 52.5
SA -1.5
SA by 1-12
BET: 1 unit the above Bet Builder at 4/1 at Hollywoodbets
My main plays and betting angle for this week’s internationals (Bok bet already up) will be posted on this blog.
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.
