[Sport] Rugby World Cup: France will face South Africa in the quarter-final

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Rugby World Cup: France will face South Africa in the quarter-final
The French XV now knows the identity of their quarter-final opponent: they will face South Africa on October 15 at the Stade de France. Ireland, which largely beat Scotland (36-14) on Saturday, will face New Zealand.

The Blues and the South Africans faced each other for the last time in Marseille in November 2022, the Blues then beating the Springboks (30-26) © Sylvain Thomas, AFP (Archives)

The French South Africa, reigning world champion.

The Springboks finished in second place (15 points) in Group B, behind Ireland (19 pts), who defeated Scotland (36-14) at the Stade de France on Saturday October 7.

With this quarter-final, the XV of France is attacking a new phase of the competition which will require it to clearly move upmarket, with or without its scrum half Antoine Dupont.

“It’s a successful match,” said Blues coach Fabien Galthié after the victory against Italy. “We had to win, we did. Being able to line up all the players and control the match from start to finish is also satisfying.”

The statistics, in attack and defense, of the big victory of the Blues, deprived of Dupont, in the recovery phase and hoped for the quarter-final, would almost make one dizzy.

Thus, the Tricolores not only won 100% of their scrums and 87% of their touches, but above all they carried 144 balls (their record in this World Cup) for a total of 822 meters covered.

In short, they regained their possession game, which led to longer phases of play and led to tries, eight in all.

“I asked the players to be able to go beyond playing time, to hold the ball,” explained Karim Ghezal on Saturday morning, the co-coach of the Blues in charge of the conquest, and in particular of the key.

“Offensively, I think it's perhaps our best match of the competition, and it's good that it's happening now,” said fullback Thomas Ramos after the match.

Very disciplined Blues
"The forwards did a big job. We won almost all our rucks, we had speed in our game, that certainly helped us carry the ball to score tries," said him the young winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey after the meeting.

Also in defense, France produced a clean copy, missing only nine tackles in total for a success rate of 94%, which no other team at the World Cup had done so far. As for discipline, it was again there, with only six penalties conceded.

Despite all these positive points, this performance must be put into perspective given the state of form of the opponent, Italy with 156 points conceded against New Zealand (17-96) and France (7-60), being nothing more than a shadow of itself.

Because next Sunday, against South Africa, the reigning world champion, it will be a completely different music that awaits the Blues. The French XV has already had a taste in November 2022 with a confrontation against the Springboks in Marseille won by the Blues (30-26).

By then, the XV of France, which benefits this weekend from "two days of breathing before diving" according to Ghezal, will know if it gets back its playing master Antoine Dupont.

https://www.france24.com/fr/sports/20231007-coupe-du-monde-de-rugby-la-france-affrontera-l-afrique-du-sud-en-quart-de-finale