One game Pieter de Villiers must win for us and his ever improving coaching CV is the game against France. For years the French were just also ran’s against SA but if you break up the results against us you will find that they dominate the last decade against us. The last Springbok side to win in France was in 1997 when the team, under Nick Mallet, outplayed the French 52-10 in Paris.
Since that win in 1997 they played us 8 times and won 5 plus drew one, leaving us with a mere 2 wins out of 8, a low 25% win ratio. At the same time they only managed to win 3 out of 14 encounters with the All Blacks and also only 3 in 11 against Australia
Compare the stats above with the overall results the French achieved against the Springboks.
36 Played, Won 10, Lost 20, Drawn 6.
Gold warned that the French were “an emotional team, with a lot of passion.
“They have a big strong pack and they will be very physical.”
Marcoussis – Imanol Harinordoquy is relishing the chance to test his strength against a South African side he regards as having the “nastiest” players in the world when France face the Springboks on Friday.
“South Africa are world champions, they are the best team in the world but they also are the nastiest and most physical team in the world. A team that is always trying to hurt,” the number eight who will switch to flanker to bring more power to the French pack, told journalists on Monday.
Asked if he agreed with Lucien Mias, captain of the first France team to win a Test in South Africa in 1958 who said that “in a sport of sacrifice, the Springboks have decided once and for all to be the butcher rather than the lamb”, he answered:
“Yes, you could say they are butchers but I can assure you we are not going to be the lambs on Friday.”
This game is a big one for the French, hope that the Springboks don’t use it as preparation for the 2011 World Cup. This is the one that will define Peter de Villiers’ approach to Test rugby. This one will make that CV of PDV look so much better.
GO BOKKE!!
This will be ultimate forward warfare.
If our forwards are just 5% off their game, they will get hammered.
The first 30 minutes will decide which pack will win the fight.
We have no choice but to attack them up front with everything we have for the first 30 minutes.
That means taking their forwards on, because if we let them get on top they will become unstoppable.
Are our forwards up for this fight after a long year?
Are we able to cope with their scrumming?
The French have had a pack that can front almost any team recently, and their backs are, well, French. Scored a good victory this year against the Blacks as well.
On the question of our forwards, why didn’t we take Wian du Preez, Liebenberg, Strauss, WP Nel and Wicus Blaauw along from the start… I’m SURE that any of these guys would be better than a tired Beast and Bismarck. At least CJ is there. Wow, we are SPOILED with forwards choice when it comes to forwards, and then they pick Maku, Steenkamp and Chilli… wtf?
If we win this, then PdV would have beaten the French, B&I Lions and the Blacks abroad for the first time in 10 years.
imagine that!
It will be tough to beat the Frenchies. Personally i think our boks are overplayed this year, and mentally they might not make it.
Hope i’m wrong!
There is still something to achieve for these Boks. None of them (except Muir) has beaten the French in France.
😆 So now we are the “Butcher Boks” hehe.
Just hope we are ready for them. They have a 105kg inside centre. I worry now about our centre channel. Somehow think our scrum is going to be fine. Also not too sure about Zane at the back. He never had a good game in the E. Boks or the last test against the Lions. How I wish we still had Frans Steyn and JdV for this test.
I do hope we start with JF and WO in this test and Adi comes off the bench. Adi just not the same player as he was in 2008 with that shoulder injury he had.
Also after watching WO on Friday night not too sure about him either. Though this time he will be around all the Bulls players that he is used to playing with. Just keep worring now about the French monster inside center.
Maybe our loose trio should be. Burger 8 Deysel 7 and Brussow 6. 3 Very hard men there. Then I do rate Kanko so not sure but for these huge French players maybe go with Burger at 8. Deysel also does a lot of fetching for the Sharks so we would have two great fetchers at 6 and 7 and Deysel also a strong ball carrier.
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