It’s the final round of this three match series, the Springboks already have the series in the bag and will look to build on their successful start to the 2017 season.
Allister Coetzee has gone with more of the same for this dead rubber, making only four changes in a bid to keep the momentum and secretly work on that win ratio of his. Jesse Kriel is back in midfield while Francois Hougaard gets a chance to start. Hougaard looked good when coming off the bench but will do well to keep up the example set by Ross Cronje so far this season.
Jean-Luc du Preez gets his first start after playing most of the second test. His inclusion opens a bench spot for Jaco Kriel who should explode onto the scene in the second half. Lastly, there is debutant Ruan Dreyer, who has been immense in Super Rugby, to have a go at making the selectors’ job a little tougher.
More of the same on the team sheet means that we should expect more of the same from the team. After the better alround performance in the second test, we can only really ask of them to continue the trend in this test. To do everything that little bit better would really cap off this series as a success.
Late news from the Bok camp is that Warren Whiteley has picked up a groin injury and has been withdrawn. Eben Etzebeth, as vice captian, will lead the side. Jaco Kriel jumps into the starting line-up with Jean-Luc du Preez shifting to 8. Lood de Jager comes onto the bench with Pieter-Steph du Toit the loose forward cover the evening.
South Africa: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Jaco Kriel 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Francois Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Lood de Jager, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Frans Steyn, 23 Dillyn Leyds.
France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Nans Ducuing, 13 Damian Penaud, 12 Gaël Fickou, 11 Virimi Vakatawa. 10 Jules Plisson, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Kevin Gourdon, 6 Yacouba Camara, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Yoann Maestri, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado (captain), 1 Jefferson Poirot.
Replacements: 16 Clément Maynadier, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Uini Atonio, 19 Paul Jedrasiak, 20 Loann Goujon, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 François Trinh-Duc, 23 Vincent Rattez.
Date: Saturday, June 24
Venue: Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Kick-off: 17.00 (17.00 French time; 15.00 GMT)
Expected weather: Partly cloudy with a high of 15°C and a low of 3°C. It’s midwinter on the Highveld.
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)
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Victory at EP today will be historic…..can’t believe that we’ve never beaten France there.
Warren Whiteley withdrawn from team due to a groin injury.
Eben Etzebeth leads the team. Jaco Kriel comes into the starting line-up with Jean-Luc du Preez moving to 8. Lood de Jager comes onto the bench with PSdT seemingly the only other loose forward cover.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 2) : A bit of a weird move, Kolisi is more a 8 JL is a 7 so not sure what the thinking is from the Bok camp.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 2) : As long as JLDP is only used at 8 in scrums for extra power, and they let play his normal game which is blindside. Kriel should actually be very good at performing WW’s linking role in the trio.
Effybeff as captain….we really don’t wanna break our EP duck vs. the frogs. Use Kolisi.
Etzebeth as captain… 😯
Then again, we don’t have that many other options in the side…
@sharks_lover (Comment 3) : Ja a little dof if you ask me
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 7) : Kriel at 7, JldP at 8, Kolisi at 6 😕
@FireTheLooser (Comment 8) : Kolisi 8, JLdP 7 and Kriel 6 makes a lot more sense! Also don’t know why Kolisi isn’t leading the side.
Not sure I would move JLdP to 8 in this loose trio…let’s see how they go…
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 9) : Yup…exactly what I was thinking…on both counts…
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 9) : The mind boggles
I see the “how to film a Boeing flying over Ellis Park” skills have gone for a ball of shit
Bit of obstruction there? No?
Some good tackles by Kolisi…
Rhule misses a tackle there…hmm…
Brilliant Jaco Kriel…man, I love that guy…in a manly rugby respect sort of way…
Elton nails the resulting penalty and it is 3-0 after 5 minutes…
What’s with Hougaardt’s quick tap and then kicking away penalty ball? It seems to be an ingrained brain fart mechanism with him.
@pastorshark (Comment 17) : Good thing you added that last bit!
Serfontein with some good turnovers…
Great try Boks…that was all about defensive pressure…well done, Serfontein, Mostert, du Preez and Dreyer…
Brilliant!
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 20) : That’s what I was thinking…
Great conversion by Jantjies from out wide…10-0…
Kolisi has been playing very well in this series…
10-3 after 12 mins…
@pastorshark (Comment 26) : Jip!
The Frenchies are rattled big time
Elton now misses a pretty simple penalty…
Super rubbish pass by Hougaard pass leads to a French penalty…what is he doing there? I get that we don’t have much in the scrumhalf cupboard, but really…?!
That makes it 10-6 after 16 mins…
Without wanting to harp on it…let me harp on it…there was absolutely no pressure on Hougaard there, but he passed it 3 METRES behind his flyhalf…my word!
@pastorshark (Comment 33) : Just rubbish!
Now that was a poor lineout by the Boks…
And we lose a second lineout in a row…sigh…
Jantjies trips over his own feet and makes a hash of that! A comedy of errors in the last 5 minutes for the Boks…
This is kak rugby by the Boks
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 34) : I saw what you did there…
We’re missing Cronjé at 9
@pastorshark (Comment 39) :
Jantjies kicks this one and it is 13-6 after 23 minutes…
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 40) : Definitely…
@pastorshark (Comment 33) : Agree and he doesn’t seem to grasp basic concepts of passing. Floaters when they need to be fast. Extra step when he needs to be clean. Marx also not finding his mark.
Good defence Boks…they get the scrum…first scrum?
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 40) : Yup. At this stage I would take Page.
Good scrum and the Boks get the penalty…
Serfontein has also been good in this series…
Another terrible throw by Marx, but we get lucky…and then concede the penalty…
Boks making it look harder than it needs to be.
@coolfusion (Comment 46) : And that’s saying something!
@coolfusion (Comment 50) : Poor play at the breakdown!
Our lineouts have been horrendous!
Don’t really have an alternative for Marx today so he better shape up.
And Hougaard continues to be shocking!
Then he promptly wins a turnover… 😉
Good kick Jantjies…16-6…
Hougaaaaard…so flipping RUBBISH!
Big tackle by JLdP…
My respect for Kollisi is growing. What a grafter.
@coolfusion (Comment 60) : Serfontein as well!
Etsebeth looking a little off side. But gets away.
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 61) : Yes agreed. Way better than ellendig
Ruan Dreyer penalised for the second time…France will take a shot after the halftime hooter…
He nails it and it is 16-9 at halftime…
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 61) : Hey, that’s what I said!
but ja…both guys have been really good…
We need to sort out our set pieces.
Sorry but Rhule is as out of his depth as Hougaard.
Nice start by the Boks to the second half and they kick a very kickable penalty for the corner…and score!
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 68) : Rhule got bounced big time there…
Serfontein took that ball in the lineout to set up the variation for the try…yes, that’s right…Serfontein!
@pastorshark (Comment 70) : Two bad misses on the wing to add and it doesn’t look good
The conversion hits the upright and it is 21-9…
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 72) : Yup…he has been defending poorly in Super Rugby too, so it just seems to be an issue for him…not good for big NZ wingers…
@pastorshark (Comment 71) : Some creative thinking. When last could we say that and Boks in the same sentence, unless one slotted “lack of” in there somewhere?
Great defence Boks…good sack and Kriel was in there to win the turnover penalty…
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 75) :
Dumb penalty by Mostert
Hougaard is just a bit of a doos…
Angus Gardener is not just communicating with the players, he is doing a fair bit of commentating too…
@pastorshark (Comment 79) : Ja swaer!
PSdT on for JLdP?! O…K…
@pastorshark (Comment 79) : I would like to be the guy who says I told you so, but I think we all knew it beforehand.
@pastorshark (Comment 82) : JLdP has been a bit quiet this game
Dumb move by Etzebeth in the lineout makes it 21-12 after 57 minutes…
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 84) : His defence was big…
Bring on Paige
@pastorshark (Comment 82) : @Spirit of Rugby (Comment 84) : But fair enough…I hadn’t picked up that there was no other loose forward backup on the bench…so they had to go this route…
@pastorshark (Comment 86) : Only the first half and not much go forward. He’s just not a no 8
Must also give props to Skosan. Such a little sniper. Bit of an unsung.
Malcolm Marx scores…28-12 after 62 minutes…Boks too strong for the French…
Marx redeems himself. Must just get some lineout training he could be the complete package.
On my wish list for sharks Marx Kollisi Serf.
Jantjies with a good save. He really looks good but he still a confidence player.
France putting some pressure on the Boks here…
@coolfusion (Comment 94) : He’s also had a pretty good series…definitely his best performances for the Boks…
Lucky penalty for the Boks…Kitshoff should have been penalised there…
Hougaard not quite living up to the hype. Time to rethink, AC.
Kitshoff is a better scrummie than Hougaard!! 😆
@pastorshark (Comment 99) : Haha!
5m scrum Boks…and we get penalised…damn…
If you are in front of your man pulling him forward is it not technically also a form of obstruction?
@coolfusion (Comment 100) : 😆
Paige scores and the Boks get into the 30’s again…
We can be pretty happy with the series…much, much better than last year…
35-12 after 76 minutes…
And in his first minute Paige vindicates us all. Poetic J.
@pastorshark (Comment 104) : Given the way the Frenchies have been playing that could have been 40, 20 minutes ago.
Boks penalised in the scrum again…this time Kitshoff is nailed…
Our set pieces need plenty of worked…weren’t great today…
Game over…35-12…
All three games we scored four tries…that’s better…
We should be more competitive against the Wobblies and the Argies. All Blacks will be another story.
@Bokhoring (Comment 113) : Ja I don’t think that will be nearly the same ballgame. Frenchies never looked threatening. That might be some real test of capabilities.
@coolfusion (Comment 114) : I would have liked to see them continue from this high onto better competition to build a bit more. Sadly they will be disrupted now.
Hey Rob,
Did Frans Steyn kicking the ball upfield after the hooter give you a deja vu feeling also?
Happy about the win, but far from perfect. Actually thought the quality of play was on the low side.
Compared to the AB v Lions this was clearly two teams on a lower level.
But will take the win.
Taking into consideration that the French was 3rd in this year six nations and that they have apparently lost 12 of their last 19 games, then the Boks win does not count for much. I however believe in giving recognition – so well done to the Boks….
Hopefully this would be the starting of your revival.
Now back to Super rugby – Is Lambie back???
@fyndraai (Comment 116) : I have no idea what you mean 🙂
that makes two of us