South Africa travel to Paris to face France in a blockbuster Nations Championship clash on Friday night, a match widely seen as a dress rehearsal for the inaugural tournament's final in a fortnight.
The two sides sit top of their respective Northern and Southern Hemisphere pools heading into the penultimate weekend of group play. The Springboks have won all four of their matches so far, most recently demolishing an injury-hit Italy 66-7 in Turin, where they led 45-0 at half-time, after beating England, Scotland and Wales at home during the summer.
France, the Six Nations champions, began the autumn portion of the staggered competition with a 54-17 thrashing of Fiji in Lyon, with returning captain Antoine Dupont starring. That result 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.
Date, kick-off time and how to watch
France vs South Africa in the 2026/27 Nations Championship takes place on 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. In the UK, the game will be shown live and free-to-air on ITV, with coverage beginning at 7:15pm GMT on ITV1. It can also be streamed live online via the ITVX website and app, free with registration. The match is being televised live on SuperSport in South Africa and TF1 in France.
Team news and lineups
France coach Fabien Galthie has sprung a surprise by naming Dupont at No10 for the first time against South Africa, rather than Maxime Lucu. It is 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. Lucu is at scrum-half here, with the rest of the backline unchanged. Olympic sevens gold medallist 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. 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.
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.
Head-to-head history and prediction
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. 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. Overall, France have won 12, South Africa 29, with six draws.
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 a 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, with a predicted South Africa win by 14 points.
France to win is priced at 12/5, South Africa to win at 4/11, and a draw at 22/1, via UK betting sites (subject to change).
