Overview
- Fabien Galthié confirmed Gaël Fickou as captain and selected an unprecedented halfback pairing of Nolann Le Garrec at scrum‑half and Romain Ntamack at fly‑half.
- Props Baptiste Erdocio and Régis Montagne, each with two caps, start alongside hooker Julien Marchand to front the Springboks’ power.
- Only six starters remain from France’s 29–28 World Cup loss to South Africa at the same venue; kickoff is Saturday at 21:10 on TF1/TF1+.
- Mickaël Guillard gets the No.8 jersey in a reshaped back row, with a 6–2 bench that includes Maxime Lucu and Nicolas Depoortère for the backs.
- With World Rugby rankings influencing the Dec. 3 draw, France cast this test as both depth evaluation and a push to solidify seeding, as SA coach Rassie Erasmus even predicted the French 23 before the announcement.