Springboks team: Rassie Erasmus resists Eben Etzebeth temptation as he keeps changes to a minimum for ‘intense’ Test against France

Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus has kept changes to a minimum by making just one alteration to his starting line-up for their Nations Championship Test against France in Paris on Friday.

After securing an impressive 66-7 victory over Italy in Turin at the weekend, Erasmus has brought Wilco Louw into the run-on side at tighthead prop with Thomas du Toit dropping down to the replacements bench.

The only other change to the matchday squad sees Cobus Reinach being drafted onto the bench as the back-up scrum-half at the expense of Grant Williams.

Lood de Jager and Ruan Nortje will continue as the starting locks after Erasmus was forced to make a late change to his side in the build-up to the clash against the Azzurri when the former was promoted to the starting XV following the withdrawal of Salmaan Moerat due to back spasms experienced during the warm-up.

Meanwhile, Ox Nche and Malcolm Marx continue at loosehead prop and hooker respectively while the forward pack is completed by the experienced back-row of skipper Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese.

There are no changes in the backline with Erasmus with Morne van den Berg and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu named as the starting half-backs alongside the centre combination of Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende while Ethan Hooker, Kurt-Lee Arendse, and Damian Willemse will line up as the back three.

The Boks have retained the split of six forwards and two backs on their bench, where utility forward Franco Mostert and back-rowerss Cameron Hanekom and Paul de Villiers will provide an impact alongside the front-row of Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp, and Du Toit, while Reinach – who covers scrumhalf and wing – and Manie Libbok have been named as the backline reserves.

A total of 16 players in the matchday 23 featured in South Africa’s 32-17 triumph over Les Bleus in last year’s corresponding fixture in Paris. That includes the entire starting pack with the exception of Nche, as well as five backline players in the run-on side – Feinberg-Mngomezulu, De Allende, Kriel and Willemse.

10 players in the squad were members of the team that claimed a narrow 29-28 win when these sides met in the quarter-final of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Paris.

‘It was always our intention to select a settled squad’

“We said from the outset that we would not rotate too much on this tour, so it was always our intention to select a settled squad for this game to build momentum in the competition,” said Erasmus.

“Most of these players have faced France at home and know what to expect from them, and they have also experienced their passionate and vocal crowd first-hand.”

Of the two changes to his matchday team, Erasmus said: “Our front-rows are well settled and have all been playing together for a few seasons, so we made a rotational switch with Wilco and Thomas, while Cobus is also very familiar with the French conditions as he played club rugby here, so we thought bringing him into the mix would be good against a quality French outfit.”

Erasmus resisted the temptation of including experienced Boks lock and double World Cup winner Eben Etzebeth in his side after he arrived in France early on Monday morning as an injury replacement for uncapped fly-half Yaqeen Ahmed.

The ‘unique’ reason Springboks stars are taking massive pay cuts to return from Japan

“Eben just arrived in France, and although we know what he brings to the team, we feel it would be better for him to get back into the swing of things this week after some time on the sidelines,” said Erasmus.

“Lood and Franco are also very experienced players, and they have been training with us for almost two weeks now after arriving in Italy the week prior to last week’s Test match. They’ve both faced France in high pressure matches and delivered, so we know what we have in them and what they will bring to the team this week.”

The Bok coach is preparing his troops for a colossal encounter against France, who are usually difficult to beat at home.

“Matches between us and France are always intense, and this week will be no different,” said Erasmus.

“Both teams have everything to play for, with France leading the northern hemisphere standings and the team being ranked fourth in the world, and we are in a similar situation trying to hold onto the top spots in the respective Nations Championship hemisphere tables, so this match is vital for both sides to try to advance to the final of the competition in a few weeks.

“They also always have a passionate crowd behind them that will definitely fuel their team, but we also enjoy the atmosphere at Stade de France, so neither team will give an inch.

“Our focus though is on what we want to do as a team, so it will be vital to execute our game plan accurately and make the most of the point-scoring chances we create.

“They have a good pack of forwards and dangerous backs, so we need to be at our best to get the desired result.”

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.

Springboks team to face France

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 (c), 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, Paris
Kick-off: 21:10 (local), 20:10 (GMT), 22:10 (South Africa)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley (RFU), Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
FPRO: Andrew Jackson (RFU)

READ MORE: Rassie Erasmus: ‘Springboks have to play much better against France and Ireland’