Here we go, chaps, the first test of the tour.
Will the tired Boks be able to lift themselves yet again, after a year of unprecedented success? Will Beast Mtawarira be allowed to take the field?
Will the French be able to capitalise on a perceived Bok weakness as scrumtime? Or will home ground advantage be enough to secure victory for the hosts, just as it has done for the last 12 years?
Kick-off in Toulouse is at 21h45 SA time.
Teams:
France: 15 Damien Traille, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Fabien Barcella
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Sébastien Chabal, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Marty, 22 Maxime Médard.
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (captain), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Andries Bekker, 20 Danie Rossouw, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), James Jones (Wales)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)
K. Off at 22:45 my time with work in the morning. I hope it is worth staying up for.
GO BOKKE!!!!!!!!!!!!
@KSA Shark © (Comment 1) : Hi there….good to see you!! Also hopping it will be worth staying up
@Me2 aka Mama Shark (Comment 2) :
Have been super busy and the lack of portability on my PC is frustrating,
am sitting in the kids lounge watching their tv, with a long LAN cable connected to my laptop. 
Hello thar
Go Bokke!!!
@provincejoulekkading (Comment 4) :
helooooooooooo.
Hey Dude? Have you ever watch the guys from MacassarRugby club play?
They were in Bangkok for the 7s, lost the cup semi in extra time.
Played some excellent Rugby though.
I hope the rain doesnt affect my signal!
@Rahul (Comment 7) :
MY signal has JUst started breaking up.
Friday the 13th????????
beast still there
@Rahul (Comment 7) :
Are you gonna be in Plett over the Winter? I am in SA from 14 June to 30 July. WILL have time for a trip to the Cape this year.
Someone’s busy murdering our anthem
Who is this dude murdering the anthem?
@robdylan (Comment 9) :
I see that.
WTF is the guy singing the Anthem
Did they find the drunkest guy in the pub?
the guy doing the anthem is classic
@mbayshark (Comment 11) :
@provincejoulekkading (Comment 12) :
@KSA Shark © (Comment 13) :
Snap.
i think he’s a rasta and clearly high
I think he was drunk! Wtf?
And france get the whole shebang for their’s
Home support is going to help these guys bigtime, they sound overwhelming.
here we go!
LOL !
@KSA Shark © (Comment 19) : who knows where ill be then? Send me an email and ill try take leave
this is a circus! Gotta love the French
FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK
now THAT is a moments silence, not a PEEP from the crowd.
No Bulls fans there it seems.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 13) : I dont think he is drunk, he looks like something else is his vibe
Hello little french girl!
@provincejoulekkading (Comment 25) :
Go Bokke!!
Schalk was like a MILE offside, bring back Brussouw!!!!!!!!!
@KSA Shark © (Comment 29) :
Or at least another one of him,
Amazing Schalk took all of 1 1/2 minutes to give away his first penalty
C’mon Bokke !
Hey, thats the pasta i had tonight… Tricolore. Chewed it good!
Bakkies must be smiling, the ref has NO problem with the French diving into and over the rucks.
who’s the guy in 12 green? Huge tackle from him
This DuPuy guy for the French? is he a counterfeit version of DuPreez?
@robdylan (Comment 35) :
Not Jacobs, He apparently can’t tackle.
1st Victoria and now Bakkies bleeding
So what was the result with the beast? Is this his last game?
10min
France 3 – 0 Springboks
@Rahul (Comment 39) :
no idea.
Best Pillar I’ve seen in a long time.
I cant do another one sided ref experience….
Bismarck Nails Heymans with a stiff arm. Got away with it here but the French media will crucify him this week.
this is looking awful
steyn is a kak flyhalf
Very scrappy.
@robdylan (Comment 46) :
That’s why he left the Sharks.
@McLovin (Comment 47) : I agree!!! We should hide him on full-back and play Ruan on flyhalf!
Time off, TJ report.
Seems like Steyn is not used to wind.
get us a proper 10, please!
@KSA Shark © (Comment 48) : all the steyns
Beauty from Steyn.
TJ was as blind as Skinstad.
Bakkies shoves the guy in the back and Skinstad and the TJ says he took Broussouw out late.
3 points on a platter for a WRONG call by the TJ.
Peter Grant anyone??
20min
France 3 – 3 Springboks.
Smit with a shocker of a kick.
Go Bokke!!
@McLovin (Comment 58) :
never did it as a hooker, now as a prop, he seems to have lost a bit of grey matter.
Protect the damn ball carrier!
DG Steyn!!!!!!
25min
France 3 – 6 Springbokke
John jou doring
SMIT TRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bob you beauty… Dont listen to your screen!
@mbayshark (Comment 64) :
Seems I have the time lag on my display that CSB used to experience.
@Rahul (Comment 66) :
Fancy TVs they have in France.
30min
France 3 – 13 Springboks
wow!
French strike right back.
Barnes refers it. no ned IMO.
32min
France 8 – 13 Springboks
nice work, steyn
We getting sucked into the french game plan here…
Steyn
Yellow for a trip. 
Stupid Doos!
HALF TIME
France 11 – 13 Springboks
Did we lose the cricket?
Jisluik
You guys are funny…keep goin …
Bit harsh the yellow imo.
I loved the way the Froggie pulled Habanas leg and then wanted to fight with him as if Habana tried to kick his mate. Gamesmanship par excellence by the Froggies.
@Rahul (Comment 77) : Yes. 1 run. DL method.
@McLovin (Comment 80) :
A trip is Yellow is a MINIMUM
@Rahul (Comment 77) : By 1 run
@blackshark (Comment 79) :
You talking to us or the Boks?
@Rahul (Comment 77) : Yeah…by the Duh-We-Lose method…
@Rahul (Comment 77) :
Ja.
du preez and steyn are killing us with their awful kicking tonight. Ball in hand is the right way to win this.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 83) : The Frenchie ran into his leg.
How long before Naas idiot Botha retires, he irritates the hell out of me.
@McLovin (Comment 89) :
It gets worse! There is no xhosa commentary!
Kanks is having an ok game… nothing absolutely superb, but doing a few good things
@mbayshark (Comment 90) :
I have Skinstad and I think Matt Pierce as commentators and at half time they are showing highlights of England Aus from last week.
@blackshark (Comment 86) : Hey! Didn’t I tell you earlier on FB
One of my commentators very pro France. He’s not even French.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 94) : Also have them as commentators, but Naas is doing his famous half-time analysis again.
@robdylan (Comment 88) : du preez kicking was good or justified when we were going backwards. Steyn was useless
@Rahul (Comment 92) :
Stop moaning, be thankful for what you have. These guys over here use two channels for 1 game per weekend.
Showsport 1 for a football match in English
Showsport 2 for the same football match in Arabic.
And then they drop the CC or S14 games that they had advertised because they don’t have enough channels.
CNUTS have never heard of simulcast.
Not a good start.
@robdylan (Comment 88) : Agreed!
Who is going to kick while Steyn is off
@mbayshark (Comment 97) :
Haven’t seen one of those since being home in June.
Another Bull makes a stuff-up, how did we let these idiots win the Currie Cup.
@McLovin (Comment 96) :
Obviously not a POM, they can’t stand the French.
@mbayshark (Comment 103) :
We didn’t!!!!!!! The Cheetahs did.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 104) : Sounds like one.
@McLovin (Comment 106) :
Maybe a Saffa in London porked his girlfriend so he likes us even less.
@mbayshark (Comment 103) : They’re all Springboks.
Habs playing for time to get Steyn back on with as little play as possible gone.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 107) : My thoughts exactly.
Rossouw on for Burger.
Kicked the ball… Fielded by offside french man who knocks it on and the ref saw nothing?
Hopefully all the ‘kenners’ ar taking note of all the tackles Adi is making. Plenty by my count.
PK France
49min
France 14 – 13 Springboks
@Rahul (Comment 112) :
I Saw that, but only on the replay.
This is worrying me.
We have a FULL Front row on the bench. Which means the match will be closed out with John not being on the field.
Can Victoria close a match to win?
Wales leading Samoa 17-13 with 15 minutes to go.
Beast off. Immigration must have turned up.
What is steyn doing? Walking around while the frogs attacking in our 22…
@mbayshark (Comment 117) :
Why are Wales playing in Yellow?????????????????
It’s not like their Red Jerseys would clash with the Blue ones of Samoa??????
beast off. Why isn’t wian coming on?
@McLovin (Comment 118) :
@KSA Shark © (Comment 120) : think its got something to do with a new outfit sponsor.
Midnight for me.
night all.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 124) : Cheers
oh dear.
Kanko has lost us ball too many times!
silly by cj
This entire game was a shambles
Well done France. Boks not good enough.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 122) : More like days.
@McLovin (Comment 130) : Something like that
Poor performance from the Boks. But credit to France.
not a lot of shame losing to France tonight. Their pack was utterly superb and never allowed us any ball. Didn’t help that the tossers from Pretoria couldn’t think of anything more imaginative than kicking all the ball away…
The Ref’s the man of the match
@Charlie (Comment 135) : Yes indeedy
@robdylan (Comment 128) : “silly” did some one not say (earlier today) that he is a walking penalty…cost us th game IMHO!
Adi was the best defensive back. By a country mile! The only oke not to miss any tackles.
@Charlie (Comment 135) : “Our boy” managed to silence some critics tonight
Stupid commentator had to pick on him for the only mistake he made all game
@Me2 aka Mama Shark (Comment 137) : I can’t understand why, if we have the top scrumming loosehead in the country on the bench…. wait for it…. wait for it….
WE DON’T BRING HIM ON!!!!!
@Me2 aka Mama Shark (Comment 139) : nah, Adi took a few wrong decisions on attack… then again, he was the only one trying anything with ball in hand. Well, him and Kanko. Both of them got isolated and lost the ball, but the French forwards were streets ahead of ours tonight, so that happened to virtually all of our ball carriers anyway.
@Me2 aka Mama Shark (Comment 139) : You think so
Tomorrow you will read the same shit about Adi as always, gonna sound like he directed traffic past him.
Well played Adi Jacobs
@robdylan (Comment 141) : OK, i’m a bit biased but as Pjld says in @provincejoulekkading (Comment 142) : it is enevitable, he will get the blame….I thought he and Kanko just did not get enough support from the forwards. Skalk was really now where near the player he was and as for Bakkies & Victoria……………
hmmm, seems my tweet about Morne Steyn has attracted the wrath of the blue horde.
Oh shit, I hope he’s not following me
@Charlie (Comment 143) : Here,here…you & I will be accused of bias…but do you care?…I don’t
Botto line, give credit when it’s due
I don’t care, I am a fanatic Adi Jacobs fan
@Me2 aka Mama Shark (Comment 144) : the whole pack got stuffed. Bismarck was rotten and Beat just didn’t turn up, although I think I know why. Bakkies just wanted to fight, but Vic had a good game. Heinrich was superb, but with the way the front five was getting stuffed and Schalk was hanging around in the backline, it was always going to be tough on Kanko. He coughed a few balls, but then so did everyone else.
Shit, some guys were completely invisible all game. Jaque Fourie? World’s Best Passenger
@robdylan (Comment 145) :
@Charlie (Comment 148) : you don’t say! Have you ever met him?
@robdylan (Comment 149) : and Meisie Kind was also invisible, when he came on. I have seldom seen the French so “pumped up”. I think that our coaching staff etc. have forgotten that all the teams from the Northern Hemisphere want to beat the “World Champs” and are going to be “pumped up” to “Just do it”, to borrow a phase!
@robdylan (Comment 151) : I have!!!
@Me2 aka Mama Shark (Comment 152) : NH commentators as well… I had that Stuart Barnes wally…
@robdylan (Comment 154) : Wayne Barnes brother?
time to call it anight…passed mid night…have a kiff weekend!
@Me2 aka Mama Shark (Comment 155) : who knows? They’re both idiots
@Me2 aka Mama Shark (Comment 156) : Calling it a night now would be a smart thing to do, but then again i’ve never been accused of being smart.
Night, night everybody
Ah fuckit they were better than us.
I blame Luke Watson.
@robdylan (Comment 145) :
The Blue Horde can tweet?
I thought they were just twits. 
Goodmorning everybody, already feeling better after lastnite’s game
Still proud to be a Bok Supporter 
@Charlie (Comment 162) : i think i’ll be fine – though hope that John is not smiling as he did during the game. thought it completely inappropriate.
10 Morné Steyn:
His worst game in the Bok jersey – a right royal mare. Kicked directly into touch, kicking too deep and then a yellow card for tripping.
3/10
Only one player with a lower score in the team.
8 Ryan Kankowski:
Looked out of his depth. A knock-on at a maul, lost the ball that led to Clerc’s try and also lost the ball in contact too easily – not to mention the yellow card for killing the ball.
2/10
@KSA Shark © (Comment 164) : not sure whether these 2 deserve the lowest scores. the entire team (withe exception of brussouw and du preez, maybe locks) was off.
wonder though why ruan wasn’t brought in for kirchner or steyn. is it because he is not toplay FB anymore and was Pdivvy hoping till last minute that there will be some penalties that morne could kick over.
C’mon Italy!!!
Boks are mentally finished for the season.
Don’t be surprised if we only win one out of 3.
Italy so far getting the better of NZ in the scrums.
Itaky in the lead.
3-0
@McLovin (Comment 169) : Italy even…
Italians flying in. Can’t possibly last.
Over and out.
@McLovin (Comment 167) : @McLovin (Comment 168) : from your comments re : Italian scrums this hope of winning 1 of 3 is fading
Im bored!!
@wpw (Comment 173) : do sth useful
@rekinek (Comment 174) : forgot to add smiley
I’ve just flicked past SABC1 and I see that at 89 minutes the score is 0-0 against the Japs.
It still beggars belief that this is the number one sport in the world.
somewhere something is gonna roll and NO im not talking about a zoll rolled by the rasta that butchered our anthem. Well done to the French
@klempie (Comment 176) : round ball sucks IMO
All Blacks win 20-7 or something.
Absolute farce of an ending. NZ penalised about 6 times for collapsing the scrum 5m from their line. One of their props even get a yelllow.
But does Mr Dickenson award a penalty try? Not on your life.
9-9 at Twickers. 70min. Bit of a bore really.
Eng win 16-9
‘SA Embassy chose singer’
2009-11-14 21:17Email | Print
Happy with his singing (File)
Toulouse – French team manager Jo Maso said the choice of singer at each Test in France is made by the visiting team’s diplomatic staff.
Video: Botched South African anthem
“Every time we welcome a foreign side, we ask the embassy to propose people for the national anthems,” said Maso.
“It’s the South African Embassy that put forward this man and we respected their choice.”
Ras Dumisani, a Durban native who sported dreadlocks tucked into a huge red, green and white Rastafarian cap, sang Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika ahead of the Boks defeat against France in Toulouse.
Dumisani was aghast when told that Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and several players were unhappy with his rendition, saying “everyone at the stadium told me I sang well, even after the match.”
@rekinek (Comment 182) : This Dumisani guy is a laugh Riot !