Feisty French on their way

UNPREDICTABLE FRANCE HAVE ALWAYS MADE LIFE DIFFICULT FOR OPPONENTS Boks will be a little apprehensive after last season’s travails.

Excitement is building ahead of the first French visit to South Africa in seven years with the promise of a fresh Springbok approach lingering on the horizon.

The Boks will engage in a series against the Tricolors with the first Test scheduled at Loftus Versfeld on June 10, followed by two more Tests in Durban and Ellis Park over the following two weeks.

But Tests against France haven’t always been the most simple bridge to cross.

But the promise of turning things around is there with the naming of a new captain, a new backline and attack coach and a new defence coach. It was the debut of new Bok captain Francois Pienaar in a two-Test series against France, but it didn’t start well, with the first Test drawn 20-20 in Durban.

Then in the second Test at Ellis Park the Boks had the opportunity to scrape a win in the end, but fullback Theo van Rensburg (above) missed a sitter of a penalty in front of the poles in the dying minutes of the game.

In many ways it was the rebirth of Bok rugby, having only returned from isolation the year before, while the year didn’t start well with the passing of the legendary Dr Danie Craven. Also the firstchoice Bok coach was Gerrie Sonnekus, but he was to be replaced by Ian MacIntosh.

The last time the Boks faced the French was back in 2013 when SA won a tight encounter 19-10 in Paris, while the last time they were in action on SA soil was back in 2010 when the Boks won relatively easily, 42-17, against an under-strength side at Newlands.

Down the years the Boks and the French have taken each other on in 39 Tests, with the Boks winning 22 and the French 11, while six matches were drawn.

They have already won a series on SA shores, Lucien Mias’ men winning a two-Test rubber 1-0 in 1958.

There was also a period of four years where the Boks remained unsuccessful with the French winning three straight Tests – 2620 in Paris in 2005, and 36-26 the following year in PE, and 20-13 in Paris in 2009.

In 1993 the French created further history by winning a second series on SA soil after the first Test in Durban was drawn 20-20, they then won the second 18-17 in Johannesburg. The semifinal of the 1995 World Cup was almost cancelled after three days of torrential rain which turned the King’s Park pitch into a waterlogged surface. It could have meant an early Bok exit after having two players banned – hooker James Dalton and wing Pieter Hendriks – following the earlier ill-tempered debacle against Canada in Port Elizabeth. In the end it was a game of inches after the Boks scored their only try through the late flank Ruben Kruger, while a French attempt by big blindside flanker Abtelatif Benazzi in the dying minutes of the thriller was ruled just short. For the Boks, flyhalf Joel Stransky landed four penalties and a conversion, while French centre Thierry Lacroix kicked five penalties.