Springbok lock Lood de Jager on Tuesday at 22:10 (SA Time) said he is expecting a massive battle against France on Saturday and admitted that although the hype surrounding the game was intense due to the Boks knocking Les Bleus out of the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final, the Springboks' main focus was on trying to deliver a quality performance in Paris.
“Every Test is a big challenge for us as a team and for each individual personally,” De Jager responded to a question about the difference between France and the Springboks’ mindset going into the match.
“They are a very good team, and we know it’s going to be a very big challenge on Saturday, but we are looking forward to it.”
Zooming in on the match, De Jager anticipated a gritty forward battle against the hosts and said it would serve as a good yardstick to measure where the Bok forwards are at this stage, with three matches left in the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour – against Italy, Ireland, and Wales.
“They have a big pack and are generally very confrontational, so it’s going to be a big challenge for us to see where we are on Saturday,” said De Jager. “They have a good maul and scrum, and they play very direct rugby, so it is going to be a good test for our forwards.”
De Jager also singled out France’s lineouts as one of their strengths: “We analyse every team we play and obviously we’ve had a look at their lineouts. They have a high success rate in that area of their game and a proper maul, and that’s definitely a threat, so we have to do our best to negate that if we want to get the upper hand to win the match on Saturday.”