Springboks downplay ‘revenge plotline’ ahead of Paris showdown with France

While the French will be whipping themselves into a frenzy for their rematch with the world champion Springboks, the South Africans are downplaying the “revenge” theme intrinsic to this encounter.

This Saturday in Paris marks the first match between the teams since the Boks’ dramatic 29-28 victory in the 2023 World Cup quarter-final at the same venue. The one-point win ended the host nation’s hopes of glory, and they have complained of “robbery” ever since.

On Monday, the Boks’ Irish assistant coach, Felix Jones, performed media duty and cut a calm figure, failing to rise to the bait offered by local journalists.

Jones admitted that while there may be extra attention on this match because of the World Cup drama, the Boks’ focus is solely on ensuring they are as well prepared as possible going into the game.

Asked how it felt to be back in France for the first time since 2023, Jones said: “We enjoy it every time we are here in France, and in general, we have fond memories of being here, even when we lost the match in 2022 in Marseille.

"What happened in 2023 was positive too for many other reasons, but that’s in the past. Our focus this week is to give ourselves the best chance to perform well on Saturday.”

Jones would not be drawn into debating the “revenge” aspect for France, but acknowledged that the hosts would likely want to make amends for 2023.

“I don’t know (if they are seeing this as a revenge match), to be honest,” said Jones.

“I’m not sure how they are talking about it in their camp. That said, it would be hard to deny that they would have some regrets from that game that they would like to make right.”

While the local media suggested this would be the biggest match of the season for France, who were crowned Six Nations champions earlier this year, Jones said they would approach the encounter as they do any other Test match.

“I wouldn’t say any single Test match is bigger than another,” he said.

“We’ve had some big games this year against New Zealand, and we lost a Test match against Australia at home. We also have clashes against Italy, Ireland, and Wales coming up after this, so for us, every match is massive, although I can understand the extra attention this match is receiving after the World Cup quarter-final in 2023.”

Jones, however, had no doubt it would be a massive challenge and said they expected France to field a different team from the side that suffered a series defeat against the All Blacks in July.

“They are a huge threat – their entire pack is tough, and they have quality players to select from,” Jones said.

“They’ve built a lot of depth there in the last few years. We are expecting this match to be as big a battle as it was against them in 2022 and 2023.”

Of the team the Boks expected to face, he added: “Fabien Galthié (France coach) has taken players who are lesser known on tour for their summer series a few times, and that’s a great exercise in building depth. But for this game, we are expecting them to select a different side.”

When quizzed about the decision to switch the Springbok team announcement from Monday to Thursday, Jones said: “If you look at our history, we’ve commonly changed the days of our team announcements.

"We obviously lost Ox (Nche) to injury last weekend. We have a very competitive squad and want to make sure we get our selection right before announcing our team.”