France
Traille at 15 for France
Monday, November 09
France coach Marc Lievremont has selected his team to take on the world champion Springboks in Toulouse on Friday night.
Powerhouse centre Yann David has been selected at inside centre with Damien Traille at fullback ahead of regular starter Maxime Medard.
Francois Trinh-Duc gets the nod to start at flyhalf. There is no regular flyhalf replacement selected on the bench - indicating that Traille will step in should anything happen to Trinh-Duc.
It's the selection of 105kg David alongside Maxime Mermoz in the France midfield, however, that will dominate the buzz ahead of the game with the lightweight Adrian Jacobs expected to line up at inside centre for the Boks.
Cedric Heymans and Vincent Clerc make up one of the best wing combinations in world rugby while the loose trio of Louis Picamoles, Imanol Harinordoquy and new captain Thierry Dusautoir also looks strong on paper.
Nicola Mas, William Servat and Fabien Barcella are the three front rankers selected to expose any weakness in the Springbok front line.
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Team vs South Africa
13 Nov 09
21:45
Toulouse
Toulouse, France
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- Captain - Thierry Dusautoir
- Traille at fullback
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Our biggest obstacle to victory will be the scrum.
Dunno much about their scrummie or their inside centre but the rest of the team look a daunting prospect. In Toulouse, this match is going to be tough and an absolute humdinger. I fear it may end up being a bridge too far for our boys due to exhaustion but I'm gonna make a biased call and say Boks by less than 5.
both great players in there day..
both complete idiots as coaches..
when they gonna fire these 2 fools..
they ruining the northern hemispheres chances of actually competing with beeg boys....
coaches need to pick the right players 1st...
But If it is true that they are playing an 105 kg center against jacobs I think our midfield will have their work cut out for them.
Morne Steyn is not the biggest or most confrontational flyhalf, to have Jacobs at 12 I think the French will be punching holes through our midfield.
It would have been a different story if we had Jean De Villiers with Jacque Furie.
It think South Africa can counter the french with some rush defence, not allowing their backline any space.
We are going to miss Spies!!!!And Mapoe should be here rather than both Nokwe and Odwa!!!Thats my 2 cents worth!!!
i think our back row will need jean deysel's bulk as their loosies and in fact entire scrum is pretty huge.....we could do with a fetcher though so keep brussow and have kankowski to show us the form of last year!
maxime medard is overrated but vincent clerc is very good, can't see him getting past habana though
at the start of the TN-Use Morne(to kick) and Habana & JP to chase!!! Keep them on the backfoot-no way can you go forward if you continually go backwards!!!!
sarugby has lost faith in jacobs this year...he has never been a solid defender and hasn't shoewd much in attack this year!!!!
whereas wynand olivier was by far the centre of the super 14 this year and will link better with J Fourie!!
i think swanepoel and waylon murray will keep jacobs on the bench this super 14 and sadly i think his bok days are numbered
Anyway, it's going to be a tough game, the All Blacks complimented the French on their physicality (i hate that word...) so you know they're no pushover...
Subs: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Andries Bekker, 20 Danie Rossouw, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier