Springboks Should Be Too Powerful For The French
3 min readRugby$3.28 pending
)This evening the Springboks take on the French in Paris and it should be another epic battle. The Springboks have q great win record against the French winning nine of the last ten matches. The matches are normally tight with a couple of points in it and it comes down to winning the big moments.
The quarter final in the 2023 Rugby World Cup was one of the best games I have ever watched with the Springboks winning by one point. This playing in the cauldron of Stade De France in front of 90 000 French supporters. Many expected the French to win that World Cup except that was all hopium pushing the Northern Hemisphere narrative.
The Northern hemisphere narrative is what the Nations Championship is all about and the French are the best team the Northern Hemisphere has to offer. Why the Northern Hemisphere is so obsessed with this is puzzling because the Southern Hemisphere does not even think like this and it is more against the team they are facing and not from what part of the globe you represent. maybe the northern hemisphere has won so little that they need to now make it a combined effort to share the glory which they always seem to come up short.
The same hopium is around for tonight's match and this time around I would place my bets on the Springboks. The French team is good and they are not great and for some reason never tour with certain key players and this has to be seen as a weakness.
The French have a fly half shortage due to unforeseen injuries and Dupont is now covering that role. The home team has bigger problems as they face the Springbok forwards who are looking to soften them up before domination their opponents. The one thing about rugby that has never changed is you have to earn the right to go wide so winning the upfront battles before unleashing the backs. I just do not see the French team physically matching up and unless they have some new moves they are in for a rough night.
People do not understand the size of the players with a replacement who is at the top of his game being Steenekamp who is a prop. Props are generally the shorter tubby men who anchor the scrum and that is not exactly true anymore. Steenekamp is 6ft4 weighing in at 128 kg's and is built like an outbuilding. Whoever is facing him on the 50th or 55th minute mark when Steenekamp enters the match is in for a torrid time. You cannot train for this as you have no other players to train against who come close to this size.
Dupont at flyhalf means he will be targeted and the attacking lines will be coming his way close to the scrum. The game plan is actually quite simple and that is the forwards will attack the channels and the French need to stop this legally or be penalized. Penalties will set up attacking scrums or attacking line outs so this should be a fun watch.
My predicted score for tonight is the Springboks to win by 20-23 which should be in the ball park unless a Springbok player or two is carded and then the game will be very close. The last time out the Springboks won with 14 players having lost one to a red card.