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Here we go then! France kick off their Autumn Nations campaign with arguably the most anticipated game of this November, as the Six Nations champions take on the Rugby Championship winners. Don’t know if it has been mentioned much, but this is the first time the two sides will meet since that thrilling 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter final…
France can say that they are the best in the Northern Hemisphere by virtue of that impressive Six Nations campaign, but they do technically come into this game off the back of three successive defeats, in contrast to South Africa’s four successive victories. The big caveat to France’s defeats in New Zealand is the strength of the touring party: of Saturday’s line up, only six starters and three replacements featured in New Zealand this summer.
This Saturday, then, represents the truest test of North vs South in 2025. But even then, will Saturday really settle the debate on who is best? One debate we certainly won’t get any conclusion on is who the world’s best player is. Both nations have strong (and typically parochial) claims, but this contest won’t see Pieter-Steph Du Toit, Cheslin Kolbe and co. up against the man many consider to be the world’s best. Antoine Dupont may be in the France camp, but he is only training and will return to action at the end of the month.
Missing their talisman perhaps, but France will be buoyed by the absence from the opposition of another man with claims on that ‘world’s best’ title. Ox Nche’s injury will have eased French concerns about their front row, given they are without two front line tight heads (Uini Atonio and his heir apparent Tevita Tatafu) this Autumn.
France’s New Faces
Given those injuries, it is in the front row where we see some of France’s newer faces. The starting front row have only 49 caps between, with 45 of them belonging to Julien Marchand, who returns to the starting line up for the first time since the 2024 Six Nations. Either side of him, Baptiste Erdocio and Régis Montagne both played a couple of games against New Zealand.
Erdocio’s selection as starter is an intriguing one, and not only because Jean-Baptiste Gros was one of France’s best players last season. Erdocio has been a regular in a strong Montpellier pack for a few seasons now and was worthy of his call up over the summer. However, he struggled at scrum time and with his penalty count both in New Zealand and in the game against England A at Twickenham. His form since returning from that summer tour has been outstanding, and he merits a place in the 23 on that basis. His selection as a starter is perhaps a nod to South Africa’s notorious Bomb Squad, because Gros would appear to be better equipped to deal with the inevitable Springbok onslaught.
On the other side, Nche’s injury means we miss out on a showdown between The Ox and ‘The Panda’. Montagne (whose surname literally translates as ‘Mountain’, something noted by Rassie Erasmus on X) is making his first test start and he feels like a player who is continually improving. His scrummaging is still work in progress but, like Erdocio at Montpellier, he has been instrumental to the Clermont pack’s dominant early season form. Opting for experienced head Dorian Aldegheri in reserve again suggests a bit of a ‘Bombe’ Squad from Galthié.
Part of that powerful bench is Guillaume Cramont, the only possible debutant this Saturday. Amazingly for a man sitting behind Marchand and Peato Mauvaka at club level, Cramont has amassed nearly 100 appearances for Toulouse. There are shades of when Jamie George came through at Saracens behind John Smit and Schalk Brits, and Cramont has had to fight for game time, but pressure makes diamonds after all. This season, with the elder statesmen both injured, he has been one of the form players in the Top 14 and has scored five tries in seven appearances.
Same, same, but different
Elsewhere in the starting line up for France, there are many familiar faces, yet it does have a slightly different feel to it. Nowhere highlights this better than in the back row, where the names are familiar but only Anthony Jelonch is a survivor from that fateful quarter final.
His childhood friend from his youth days at Auch, Grégory Alldritt, is a notable absentee. We agree with his omission, but it is still surprising. Few have played more for France in the Galthié era, and Alldritt is clearly a favourite of the head coach, often picked as captain when the third of the Auch childhood trio, Dupont, has been unavailable. In truth, Alldritt’s form has not hit the same heights since the World Cup. So consistent (and persistent) before, he isn’t currently at the level that had him in conversations about the best no. 8s in the world.
The No. 8 jersey goes to Mickaël Guillard, comfortably France’s best player against New Zealand in the summer. He hadn’t played No. 8 for over a year before this summer, but the power and prevalence of his ball carrying was world class. Allditt’s La Rochelle team mate Paul Boudehent seems to get bigger and more destructive every time he plays, and is now a fixture in France’s back row, although he’s played exclusively in the second row for La Rochelle this season. In perhaps another nod to South Africa’s forward power, all three starters in the back row have played at lock this season; Saturday will be Boudehent’s first and Guillard’s second start in the back row this season.
It’s a similar vibe on the bench, where Romain Taofifenua is somehow still going despite announcing his retirement two years ago and he is clearly there to counter the Springboks bench power. The 6-2 bench is nothing new for France (they actually had more forward replacements than the Boks in that quarter final), and Oscar Jégou is the key man in hybrid terms, having filled in superbly at centre in France’s win in Dublin in March. Hugo Auradou has been in outstanding form for Pau and his skill as a lineout technician has been critical to Pau rising to 2nd in the Top 14, but he feels like a less dynamic bench option to others available to Galthié.
The backline largely picks itself. We prefer the silky Nicolas Depoortère to the more boisterous Pierre-Louis Barassi, but it's a tight call and the France coaches are known to be big fans of the Toulouse man. Joining Depoortère on the bench is his UBB captain Maxime Lucu, off the back of only one appearance since returning from injury. Nolann Le Garrec had a decent if unspectacular summer tour, and he has started life well at La Rochelle since moving from Racing 92.
Gaël Fickou is named as captain, starting alongside Romain Ntamack, who infamously missed that 2023 World Cup. We may be cheerleaders of French rugby, but we haven’t always been blind cheerleaders of Fickou and Ntamack, and neither has been as influential for Les Bleus in recent times as many had come to expect. They both, however, come into this in red hot form. Ntamack, in particular, seems to have finally returned to the heights he hit before the first of those long term injuries and is now back to a level befitting his lofty reputation.
Damian Penaud’s own lofty reputation remains, but the form of France's record try scorer has wavered slightly of late. Shocking as it is to say, his place could well have been under threat if it weren’t for injury to the supremely talented Théo Attissogbe.
Penaud, however, does seem to embody France’s challenge coming into this showdown. France haven’t beaten South Africa at the Stade de France for 20 years - France’s victory three years ago was in Marseille - and for the home side to prevail on Saturday, it feels like they need their match winners to each have a 9/10 game. When you have that feeling, you know you’re the underdogs. The Springboks may be only marginal favourites with the bookmakers, but our hunch is they will win it by 7. They come into this as the more battle-hardened and more cohesive unit, but France do have plenty of those match winners. Both of us at Rosbifs Rugby will be in attendance on Saturday night, hoping that Thomas Ramos, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Penaud et al. put in the sort of performance that sets off a party that continues long into the Parisian night…
