Friday night’s clash in Paris is likely to be a dress rehearsal for the overall final of the inaugural tournament in a fortnight, as two of the very best teams on the planet lock horns for the first time in 12 months.
It would likely be many people’s pick for next year’s World Cup final too, had the two giants not been placed in the same half of a rather lopsided draw for the competition in Australia in less than 12 months.
France and South Africa sit top of the respective Northern and Southern Hemisphere pools heading into the penultimate weekend of group play, with the dominant Springboks having won all four of their matches so far.
They started their European trip by embarrassing injury-ravaged Italy with a 66-7 evisceration in Turin in which they led 45-0 at half-time, having put all three of England, Scotland and Wales to the sword on home soil during the summer.
The powerful reigning back-to-back world champions then bested New Zealand in the three-Test series named ‘Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry’, having also put 80 points on the Barbarians before a much-changed side were toppled away in Australia.
Six Nations champions France, meanwhile, began the autumn portion of the staggered Nations Championship with a 54-17 thrashing of Fiji in Lyon in which returning captain Antoine Dupont starred.
That took them top of the Northern Hemisphere table and made it three wins in succession after an initial narrow loss to the All Blacks with a heavily-weakened team was followed by emphatic victories away in Australia and Japan.
France vs South Africa date, kick-off time and venue
France vs South Africa in the 2026/27 Nations Championship takes place today, Friday November 13, 2026 at the Stade de France in Paris.
The match is slated for an 8:10pm GMT kick-off time, which is 9:10pm in France and 10:10pm in South Africa.
How to watch France vs South Africa
TV channel: In the UK, France vs South Africa will be shown live and free-to-air on ITV. Coverage begins at 7:15pm GMT on ITV1.
Live stream: You can also watch the game live online via the ITVX website and app, which is free with a registration.
The match is being televised live on SuperSport in South Africa and TF1 in France.
France vs South Africa team news
France coach Fablen Galthie has sprung a surprise by naming scrum-half extraordinaire Dupont – rather than Maxime Lucu – at No10 for the first time against South Africa. It’s a role he has previously played at club level for Toulouse, but never in international rugby.
That comes amid a fly-half crisis for Les Bleus, who lost Romain Ntamack to a shoulder injury against Fiji, and were already without Matthieu Jalibert, Thomas Ramos and Antoine Hastoy as Dupont’s fellow scrum-half Lucu deputised off the bench.
Lucu is at scrum-half here, with the rest of the backline unchanged. Olympic sevens gold medalist Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang earns only his fourth senior cap on the wing opposite Louis Bielle-Biarrey, with Theo Attissogbe at full-back and a centre partnership of Yoram Moefana and Kalvin Gourgues.
There are two alterations in the forward pack, where the fit-again Julien Marchand replaces Maxime Lamothe at hooker. Gregory Alldritt is at number eight, with Francois Cros switching to blindside flanker and Cameron Woki moving to the openside as the injured Paul Boudehent drops out.
Mickael Guillard and Florian Verhaeghe are at lock, with Marchand joined in the front row by Jean-Baptiste Gros and Sipili Falatea.
Positional switch: Antoine Dupont will line up at fly-half for France for the first time
AFP/Getty
Rodrigue Neti and Axel Desperes come onto the bench, joining Peato Mauvaka, Regis Montagne, Charles Ollivon, Tom Staniforth, Esteban Capilla and Emilien Gailleton as Jefferson Poirot makes way.
France’s long list of absentees also includes Emmanuel Meafou, Anthony Jelonch, Thibaud Flament, Oscar Jegou, Fabien Brau-Boirie, Demba Bamba and Lenni Nouchi, among others.
Gael Fickou, Teddy Thomas, Louis Carbonel and Gael Drean have all been recalled to the wider squad by Galthie, but will not feature on Friday.
The Springboks named their strongest available team to face Italy and head coach Rassie Erasmus makes just one change heading to Paris, with Wilco Louw replacing Thomas du Toit at tighthead prop.
The rest of the side has a very familiar look, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu marshalling a potent attack from fly-half.
Morne van den Berg is at scrum-half, with Ethan Hooker and Kurt-Lee Arendse on either wing and Damian Willemse at full-back. Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel are in the centres.
Front-row change: Wilco Louw replaces Thomas du Toit at tighthead prop for South Africa
Getty
Ox Nche and Malcolm Marx are in the front with Louw, while Lood de Jager and Ruan Nortje are at lock. Captain Siya Kolisi is in the back row with Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese.
The only other change to the matchday 23 is on the 6-2 bench, where Cobus Reinach replaces Grant Williams as back cover along with Manie Libbok.
Providing finishing forward power is Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp, Thomas du Toit, Franco Mostert, Cameron Hanekom and Paul de Villiers.
Salmaan Moerat was ruled out before kick-off against Italy having been due to start at lock instead of De Jager as Mostert was promoted to the bench, with Eben Etzebeth – South Africa’s most-capped player of all time – now back in the wider squad and hoping to play against Ireland in Dublin next weekend after uncapped fly-half Yaqeen Ahmed returned home with a shoulder issue.
The Springboks are still without the likes of Cheslin Kolbe, Handre Pollard and Andre Esterhuizen.
France vs South Africa lineups
France XV: Attissogbe; Grandidier-Nkanang, Gourgues, Moefana, Bielle-Biarrey; Dupont (c), Lucu; Falatea, Marchand, Gros; Verhaeghe, Guillard; Cros, Woki, Alldritt
Replacements: Mauvaka, Neti, Montagne, Ollivon, Staniforth, Capilla, Desperes, Gailleton
South Africa XV: Willemse; Arendse, Kriel, De Allende, Hooker; Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Van den Berg; Nche, Marx, Louw; De Jager, Nortje; PS du Toit, Kolisi (c), Wiese
Replacements: Wessels, Steenekamp, T du Toit, Mostert, Hanekom, De Villiers, Reinach, Libbok
France vs South Africa head to head (h2h) history and results
South Africa have won nine of their last 10 meetings with France dating back to 2010, including a pulsating 29-28 World Cup quarter-final victory in 2023 as they went on to successfully retain the title in Japan.
They have met only once since then, when the touring Springboks won an autumn international 32-17 at the Stade de France last November in what was Kolisi’s 100th cap despite seeing De Jager sent off in the first half for a shoulder-to-head tackle on Ramos.
France’s only win over South Africa since 2009 came in the autumn of 2022, when Dupont and Pieter-Steph du Toit were both dismissed in a feisty 30-26 victory in Marseille that saw a late try from Falatea and Ramos’ last-gasp penalty.
Winning streak: South Africa beat France in the autumn internationals 12 months ago
AFP/Getty
France vs South Africa prediction
Picking against this truly formidable South Africa team feels like a fool’s errand, regardless of the quality of the opposition.
An incredible mix of power, pace and skill combined with frightening physicality and a ruthless edge, they have quality in abundance and remarkable strength in depth right across the pitch.
They will be absolutely soaring with confidence after totally humiliating Italy, with the sensational Feinberg-Mngomezulu playing rugby from a different stratosphere at times.
France feel like the only credible Northern Hemisphere threat to the Boks’ hopes of World Cup ‘three-peat’ Down Under next year, but their injury crisis is only getting worse and shoehorning the majestic Dupont into fly-half is far from ideal.
Expect South Africa to deliver another statement performance here and power to another impressive victory after a close battle early on.
South Africa to win, by 14 points.
France vs South Africa match odds
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