Confirmed: When Springboks will name team to face France
· The South African
The Springboks cruised to victory against Italy on Saturday, and the world champs will be favourites when they face France this Friday in front of a partisan crowd at the Stade de France.
Although South Africa have won nine out of their last 10 Tests against France, the last five games have been decided by five points or less.
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It all points to what should be an extremely competitive encounter, with Rassie Erasmus unlikely to make many changes to a winning team after picking a powerful side to face Italy.
It’s been confirmed that Erasmus will officially name his matchday 23 on Monday, at 13:00 (SA time).
Springboks looking to maintain momentum
While the Boks were disappointed with their second half performance against Italy after building an impressive 45-0 lead at half-time, scrumhalf Morne van den Berg said getting the desired result was vital going forward in the inaugural competition.
“It was especially important to get our game and the things we worked on during the week right,” said Van den Berg.
“Obviously it was important for us to get momentum going into this week’s game, so the result was very important.”
Team news
The Springboks have also been boosted by the return of experienced lock Eben Etzebeth, who has recovered form injury and been called up to the national squad. The veteran lock will join the Springboks in France on Monday, but it remains to be seen if he will be considered for selection straight away.
Meanwhile, France have suffered a big injury blow after star flyhalf Romain Ntamack hurt his shoulder this past weekend.
“Romain went off with this injury and we won’t have him for the rest of the competition,” Galthie told TF1.
“I won’t go into the details but I think that’s the competition over for him. He has a pretty serious shoulder injury.”