Three days after France beat South Africa in the voting to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the countries meet on the field in a rugby test that suddenly has some added spice.
Here’s that and the other major games on Saturday:
FRANCE vs SOUTH AFRICA, Paris (South Africa leads 25-6-11 overall, in France 12-1-5)
Two teams in transition and far removed from their past glories meet at Stade de France.
One of them will save some face.
For France, beating the Springboks will offer a modicum of respect to a team heading toward total mediocrity, six years after pushing New Zealand so hard in the Rugby World Cup final.
For South Africa, knocking over the French will offer a glimmer of hope after its latest horrible low: A record 38-3 loss away to Ireland last weekend.
“If you look at history, they lost 57-0 and a few weeks later they almost beat the same New Zealand team,” France coach Guy Noves said. “They will bounce back. They won’t just accept conceding 38 points without responding.”
Stade de France holds fond memories for the Springboks. They won their second world title there, 10 years ago.
But this is a vastly inferior side, and France - semifinalist in 2007 - has nothing much to shout about.
It is testimony to how low French confidence has dropped that Noves thinks his side can’t “compete” against the best on ability alone.
Instead, he thinks France is limited to its own motivation levels.
“Without team spirit you can’t do anything,” he said. “If we want to start getting better we have to have this team spirit, considering our weaknesses.”
The startlingly honest revelation came after a largely inexperienced France XV lost to an experimental New Zealand 28-23 on Tuesday, days after losing 38-18 to the All Blacks in an official test. After last Saturday’s defeat, Noves tore into his players, saying they weren’t up to international standard after trailing 31-5 at halftime.
Asked why his players weren’t well prepared to face the best team in the world, his answer that night was also chastening.
“If I knew the answer to that, it wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
Still, he kept the same team to face South Africa, while counterpart Allister Coetzee went the other way by making 10 changes.
“We have to fight back and play much better after our poor performance,” Coetzee said.
France has lost its last five tests against South Africa, including three away in June, but Coetzee is not reading anything into that.
“France is a much changed and improved side and will certainly pose a different challenge this time,” he said. “They have a new halfback combination and a strong ball-carrying midfield.”
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SCOTLAND vs NEW ZEALAND, Edinburgh (New Zealand leads 28-2-0 overall, in Scotland 16-2-0)
Since Scotland and the All Blacks last met in 2014, the list of tier one teams yet to beat the New Zealanders shrunk by one. Ireland finally tasted victory in 2016, after 111 years.
That left Argentina, Italy, and Scotland still waiting.
Tests between Scotland and New Zealand go back 112 years. The Scots’ best results were two draws, in 1964 and 1983, both at Murrayfield, where they play on Saturday.
The one-sided history hasn’t come up, according to Scotland skipper John Barclay, who passed it off as irrelevant.
“It’s one of them stats isn’t it? It doesn’t bother me,” Barclay said. “It will still be a stat one minute before kickoff. We still have 80 minutes of rugby to play.”
The Scots have been doing their best to ignore the All Blacks’ hype around a test which sold out in record time in July. Barclay even went so far as to say talking up the visitors will undermine the hosts’ chance.
That didn’t stop coach Gregor Townsend, who expects his side to be stressed physically and psychologically by the All Blacks.
“No team is perfect, but New Zealand over the years have been close to that,” Townsend said. “They play at an intensity and pace that not many teams play at.”
The Scots must believe they can win, he added. But that belief is hard to come by when nobody in the side has achieved it. None of the five Scots who toured New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions featured in the tests.
The buildup has hardly been ideal, either. Scotland pinned six tries on Samoa but leaked five last weekend. New Zealand almost scored that many in the first half against France, in a drizzle. The forecast on Saturday is dry and bright.
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IRELAND vs FIJI, Dublin (Ireland leads 3-0, in Ireland 3-0)
Irish rugby is licking its wounds after failing to secure the 2023 Rugby World Cup. A compensatory distraction from the pain would be a win against Fiji on Saturday.
Ireland’s 2023 bid, ranked third out of three candidates in an evaluation report, didn’t survive the first round of voting on Wednesday.
“Things were looking pretty good for our bid for the World Cup. It is pretty gutting not to have won that over,” coach Joe Schmidt said.
After giving fellow bidder South Africa a hiding at Lansdowne Road last weekend, Schmidt has put out a B side to face Fiji, and rested his main players for Argentina next week.
It could make for a closer game than all three of their previous encounters, all in Dublin, too.
Fiji has been able to call on winger Nemani Nadolo, who scored two tries for Montpellier against Leinster in Dublin last month in the Champions Cup.
“I think it was 11 tackles that he broke the last time he played against an Irish team and I am sure he’ll be looking to trying to break a few more,” Schmidt said.
The centers also worry Schmidt: La Rochelle’s Levani Botia and Pau’s Jale Vatubua. But will they get enough quality ball?.
Fiji lost to Italy 19-10 last weekend.
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WALES vs GEORGIA, Cardiff (first meeting)
Wales coach Warren Gatland made this maiden test with Georgia interesting by resting all of his senior players for the All Blacks next week.
A patchwork Wales side offering last chances to some will also debut three starting forwards plus a lock at No. 8 against an incredibly experienced Georgia pack.
Gatland says it’s a risk, especially with their shaky record against tier two teams recently, barely beating Tonga in 2013, Fiji in 2014, and Japan last year.
“It has felt like you are kind of in a no-win situation (in tier two games),” Gatland says. “You’re thinking about the future and you’re wanting to expose youngsters to that level, but sometimes by doing that you know the performance is going to be rusty, and when the performance is rusty, comes the criticism.
“These guys have been together with us for a few weeks, they’ve trained well, they know what is at stake. I’m expecting these guys to go out and play well.”
So is Georgia coach Milton Haig.
“It won’t matter who they put in, it’s Wales,” Haig says.
He adds Principality Stadium won’t faze them; they played New Zealand there at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
It’s at the next World Cup that they will play Wales next, in pool play. But to the Lelos, who have never beaten a tier one side, this crack at an understrength Wales is as good as a World Cup match.
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AP writers Jerome Pugmire in Paris and Nathaniel Cope in Ireland contributed.
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