Hit or miss. The French XV, which dreams of winning the first World Cup in its history at home, moves on to the South African showpiece, Sunday October 15, at the Stade de France. After a promising flawless performance in the group stage, the French team faces the reigning world champions who, although they finished second in their group behind Ireland, have nonetheless made a strong impression since the start of the competition. In half an hour of play, the French and the South Africans have already scored three tries on both sides (19-19). Follow the meeting live.
Antoine Dupont is there! The star scrum half of the France team, Antoine Dupont, is making his comeback on the field, three weeks after suffering a terrible tackle against Namibia which resulted in a facial fracture, operated on quickly. After weeks of uncertainty, the series has come to an end: the player’s return to the field has been validated by doctors, but the number 9 of the Blues will wear a helmet to protect his head as much as possible from a possible shock.
We (almost) don’t change a winning team. Apart from the scheduled return of Antoine Dupont, Fabien Galthié has not changed an inch the team which crushed Italy ten days ago. The hierarchy that emerged during the group stage is not upset. Young winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey pushed Gabin Villière to the bench who had worked hard to return from injury. Among the forwards, hooker Julien Marchand is still too tight to pretend to play, and leaves his place to Peato Mauvaka, author of a perfect interim.
Series of surprises on the South African side. The Springboks will display a rather playful team at the start of this quarter-final. With several major changes, in particular the benching of the rough scrum half Faf de Klerk and the choice to keep “only” five forwards on the bench (which has eight places), while they had chosen seven against Ireland. A desire to play the game which promises a spectacular match.