“We tend to get up for the French team, out of respect,” said Rassie Erasmus this week.
The Springboks face France at the Stade de France, Paris, in Round 5 of the Nations Championship 2026 on Friday night, with world champions South Africa aiming to preserve their superiority over a severely weakened French squad in this crucial fixture. France, back-to-back Six Nations champions, host the Southern Hemisphere leader Springboks, and the contest highlights the top of the Northern Hemisphere table against the visiting leaders.
Grab the popcorn 🍿👀 The World’s Best take to Paris 🔥 #NationsChampionship | #FRAvRSA pic.twitter.com/LMxJ7agkCg
Dupont Shifts to Fly-Half
France coach Fabien Galthié named Antoine Dupont at fly-half for the first time in a Test match, pairing the captain with scrum-half Maxime Lucu. The selection comes as Les Bleus manage an extensive injury list that includes regular fly-halves Romain Ntamack and Matthieu Jalibert, alongside understudies Thomas Ramos and Antoine Hastoy.
Heading into this round-five encounter, France enter without virtually every fly-half that Fabien Galthié would have pencilled in during the summer, having suffered nine defeats in their past 10 matches against South Africa, including their last five consecutive losses at the Stade de France.
South Africa assistant coach Mzwandile Stick and captain Siya Kolisi spoke to journalists ahead of the highly anticipated match, with discussion largely centering on France’s choice to deploy Antoine Dupont at fly-half. “Antoine will be wearing 10, so he has licence to do whatever he wants between nine and 10,” said Stick.
South Africa also expect Dupont and scrum-half Maxime Lucu to interchange positions during general play, creating a difficult tactical challenge for their defence.
A dominant first-half performance from France – 40 big minutes coming up ⏰#Springboks #ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/u7O24H3dcw
“It's not a surprise for me because he's played there before for his club. We saw the games where he played at 10, and he's very good. He can play almost anywhere on the field,” South Africa assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said, noting that both players bring extensive experience in both roles, with Lucu having covered fly-half after Ntamack's injury against Fiji, giving France freedom to alter their point of attack. “If you’re going to allow that nine and ten combination to get more time and space with the ball in hand, they’ve got the potential to punish us,” Kolisi said, adding that preventing them from gaining time and space would be a main focus point.
Rivals Seek Advantage
France have lost nine of their last 10 meetings with South Africa, including a 32-17 defeat for the French at the Stade de France last year despite playing half the game with 14 men. Despite the historical record, Dupont expressed a defiant attitude ahead of kickoff.
“No, we take every game as it comes – what happened then is history,” said Kolisi.
“Every game is different. What happened last year is gone. We’ve changed as a group, and we’ve changed a little bit of the way we play. We can’t stay there for too long. This is a new game and a new opportunity.” Kolisi also said that once the whistle goes, it is just you and the guy opposite you, and that is all that matters.
Front row substitution for the #Springboks as Nche, Marx and Louw join the fray after 35minutes. Live commentary and match updates: https://t.co/ceFIAN42d9#Springboks #ForeverGreenForeverGold
Late Front-Row Changes
Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp, and Thomas du Toit will start the match at the Stade de France, while World Rugby Player of the Year Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche, and Wilco Louw move to the replacements bench to provide a second-half impact.
The switch completely reverses the front-row combination Rassie Erasmus originally selected for Paris. Prior to the last-minute reshuffle, Louw had initially been promoted into the starting XV as the sole modification from the lineup that defeated Italy 66-7, with Du Toit being relegated to the bench.
DUPONT ➡️ LBB 🔥 France hit back straight away 🇫🇷#ITVRugby pic.twitter.com/5WBW4mTkHf
The match kicks off at 21:10 local time (20:10 GMT, 22:10 South Africa time) on Friday, 13 November 2026, at the Stade de France in Paris. The referee for the match is Andrea Piardi of the FIR (Italy), assisted by assistant referees Christophe Ridley (RFU) and Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR), with Matteo Liperini (FIR) serving as TMO and Andrew Jackson (RFU) as FPRO.
Dupont’s first international game at 10 and Kolisi’s 70th as Springboks captain incoming…🍿#InvestecChampionsCup #NationsChampionship pic.twitter.com/fmZS5fusqr