France vs South Africa chat.

First topic message reminder :

Any Frenchman about?

We are playing you on Saturday.

Wanna talk about it?

Thought I'll just check.

We all are aware of our poor record in France, but the reality is we haven't played them that often in the 16 years, I think it has only been 5 matches.

Overall this would have been a game targeted by Meyer as the must win, so they won't have any excuses if they lose

4 games in France in the last 10

L 12 Jun 2010 South Africa 42-17 France
W 13 Nov 2009 France 20-13 South Africa
W 24 Jun 2006 South Africa 26-36 France
W 26 Nov 2005 France 26-20 South Africa
L 25 Jun 2005 South Africa 27-13 France
D 18 Jun 2005 South Africa 30-30 France
W 09 Nov 2002 France 30-10 South Africa
W 10 Nov 2001 France 20-10 South Africa
L 23 Jun 2001 South Africa 20-15 France
W 16 Jun 2001 South Africa 23-32 France

Scratch wrote:4 games in France in the last 10

L 12 Jun 2010 South Africa 42-17 France
W 13 Nov 2009 France 20-13 South Africa
W 24 Jun 2006 South Africa 26-36 France
W 26 Nov 2005 France 26-20 South Africa
L 25 Jun 2005 South Africa 27-13 France
D 18 Jun 2005 South Africa 30-30 France
W 09 Nov 2002 France 30-10 South Africa
W 10 Nov 2001 France 20-10 South Africa
L 23 Jun 2001 South Africa 20-15 France
W 16 Jun 2001 South Africa 23-32 France

FRance are our bogey side in General  Hopefully Heyneke puts that bogey to rest. Dont wanna go into a world cup and end up facing a bogey side

Assuming you THEY win Pool D and then beat Argentina in the quarters, you are likely to meet them in the semi's if you get past Eng/Wales or Aus in the quarters

No Scratch, we are on the same side as NZ, we meet them in the semi final if we win our pool.

Scratch wrote:Assuming you win Pool D and then beat Argentina in the quarters, you are likely to meet them in the semi's if you get past Eng/Wales or Aus in the quarters

I'll be hoping Australia lose in the group stages so we dont bump into David friggin Pocock again in a quarter final .  . Now thats a player i'd have loved to see in the Springbok Green and Gold . Its a shame he's always injured

Don't worry about Pocock mate, two things will be different, he won't get to just have free reign and we have smartened up at the breakdown.

Biltong wrote:Don't worry about Pocock mate, two things will be different, he won't get to just have free reign and we have smartened up at the breakdown.

Bryce Lawrence aside , Pocock humiliated us . I still have nightmares of him stealing the ball on his own tryline while the Boks bashed it up aimlessly  

Our fetcher was taken out by Horwill in the 24th minute with a shot in the ribs, Pocock had no fetcher to compete with and our ruck play was dum.

It won't happen again.

Imperative to win this fixture then, should be a cracking game.

Le Roux will pin them back and your line out will come into effect

Yes, a loss is unacceptable for a number of reasons, most of all if we want to say we only have NZ ahead of us we have to win.

Biltong wrote:Yes, a loss is unacceptable for a number of reasons, most of all if we want to say we only have NZ ahead of us we have to win.

Couldn't agree more. The Boks have been a great team all year but I have to say, you'll have your work cut out tomorrow.

I think it's really intriguing. Meyer's winning me over as a neutral. I'm interested to see where France is going. My feeling is they've moved on a lot from last years 6 nations.

Looking forward to each of the tournaments next year. Can the AB's maintain the gap. How much will the boks step up. Gatland and Lancaster look to be pushing their teams to be more competitive. Where are the French, Irish and Aussies going. It's going to be one of the most intriguing years as a fan.

maestegmafia wrote:

Biltong wrote:Yes, a loss is unacceptable for a number of reasons, most of all if we want to say we only have NZ ahead of us we have to win.

Couldn't agree more. The Boks have been a great team all year but I have to say, you'll have your work cut out tomorrow.

this is the banana peel match of the weekend. I don't think the Irish NZ match is after last week. France were a handful and how a new style book side goes vs France will be interesting. A french win sure will undo some of Meyers progress. its on at a good time for us here as well.

Taylorman wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

Biltong wrote:Yes, a loss is unacceptable for a number of reasons, most of all if we want to say we only have NZ ahead of us we have to win.

Couldn't agree more. The Boks have been a great team all year but I have to say, you'll have your work cut out tomorrow.

this is the banana peel match of the weekend. I don't think the Irish NZ match is after last week. France were a handful and how a new style book side goes vs France will be interesting. A french win sure will undo some of Meyers progress. its on at a good time for us here as well.

I cant see how a French win would undo Meyer's progress. It will point to things he has to work on. It is going to be an excellent match, its great to see French rugby looking decent again.

Don't get carried away Maest one decent performance against the ABs (and a loss) do not give us the right to be near as good as SA. We are still miles from them overall. I want to see some progress and consistency tonight.

This game is certainly the match of the weekend, lots to play for and hard to predict.

Gonna be a tough one.

WC

You have a long way to go to be a great French team but there were signs in the last to games that you could be again.

You certainly look tough to beat.

Likewise a good drubbing from the Boks could set your house in order for the Six Nations.

This game is a tough call.

The record favors france at home. What do French fans make of PSA….is he another lieveremont?

Scratch wrote:The record favors france at home. What do French fans make of PSA….is he another lieveremont?

This is a very different side from all the losses previously but in saying that as far as the scoreboards concerned France were our closest match of the year and were going stronger at the end of the match than any side we have faced this year. Odd that that the case given Frances 2013 record but certainly SA need to be careful.

I don't think France stand a chance.

The Saint wrote:I don't think France stand a chance.

Disgaree, got within a try of NZ. Home advantage, home record. SA will be much smarter at the breakdown than previously and have the edge in Le Roux's kicking game but dismissing the French would be a mistake

Glad the French didnt engage Ras Dumisani for the anthem today

Looking forward to this.
Hoping for some big hits

The Saint wrote:I don't think France stand a chance.

Think they have a good chance really, all will tell in 80 minutes.

Oh sh!t SA just scored  

OOPS

charge down try. Two things can happen from an early try. SA pile it on and run away. Or France all wake up as one and the next half hour bec\omes on huge battle of attrition.

Why does Barnes keep shouting yes 9 and then bending over in front of him?

This is the longest scrum I've seen in quite some time and I watched two pensioners in Tescos fighting over the last sandwich in the discount section last night

Fritz and Fofana are going to be a handful. They gave the ABs pain all year.

Great centre partnership.

This is going to be a huge match

If theres one thing the AI's have proven is the NH can't prepare a good strip to save themselves. Parras right foot- supposed to be the solid foundation around which the other foot pivots sinks into the ground.

The AB match had massive clumps of dirt coming up from the scrums, the players replacing arms length divots.

Millienium stadium is worse and the Scot Oz match didnt look any better.

Very disappointing for these supposed 'majestic' staiums. At least Twickenham stood up ok.

Is it going to take a snapped ankle for these pitches to be sorted out ?

Feckin Bismarck and his crappy lineout throews these last two games !

Murrayfield is due to an infestation of parasitic worms, or some such thing. Disappointing but these things happen. Scotland do generally have a good pitch. Don't think France or Wales have much excuse.

france would be in far more trouble if the footing was secure.

France must be one of the only teams in world rugby that have a better record against New Zealand than they do against South Africa.

Good to see Le Roux and Habana combining. These effective little darts from Le Roux all year are the key to the Boks ever widening game. Its the regularity he does it that makes the difference to this side. easier yardage all over the park.

If anybody wants a good stream let me know and I'll pm you.

Notch wrote:France must be one of the only teams in world rugby that have a better record against New Zealand than they do against South Africa.

surprising that considering they beat us quite regularly

Notch wrote:France must be one of the only teams in world rugby that have a better record against New Zealand than they do against South Africa.

Wales also have more wins against NZ than SA.

 

Do they pay the groundsmen up there? They must have very low quality KPI's for their job description for the AI's...

1 Unlock gates in November
2 Lock gates in December
3 Collect pay check

South Africas defence is just so good. They are so hard to open up, obviously very physical in the tackle and they get into very good body positions at the ruck, very hard to shift and in quickly.

New Zealand are the number 1 team right now, but they actually miss a good few tackles. South Africa are just incredibly hard to get quick ball against, to win the collisions- how do you attack them?

good call wayne barnes - stop appealing for everything. you're on top, no need.

Grounding looks good to me, don't think he was in touch, think the offside is the call to make here.

That is quite poor finishing from Huget if he hasn't got that down

Notch wrote:South Africas defence is just so good. They are so hard to open up, obviously very physical in the tackle and they get into very good body positions at the ruck, very hard to shift and in quickly.

New Zealand are the number 1 team right now, but they actually miss a good few tackles. South Africa are just incredibly hard to get quick ball against, to win the collisions- how do you attack them?

Interesting given it was the SA tackling that was one of the key problems in the RC matches vs NZ.

Perfectly good try ruled out- why?

geez...good skills Steyn. Id say it went forward about 6 inches point to point. Its just whether you call that 'momentum'.