NEW GOALS: Nations Championship title on priority list as Springboks go full strength for France

Earlier this year, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus downplayed the importance of the Nations Championship. He didn’t completely dismiss its value, but he clearly indicated that the four-Test Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series against the All Blacks was the team’s priority in 2026.With that task successfully completed courtesy of a 3-1 series win, Erasmus appears to have elevated winning the inaugural Nations Championship in the team’s list of priorities.Against Italy last week, for round four of the tournament, Erasmus sent out a full-strength unit and his team duly delivered a 66-7 victory over the Azzurri in Turin.The nine-try demolition was based on a ruthless first-half performance with many of his long-time stalwarts on the field. The performance became sloppier after the break as he introduced the bench early in the second half.With a round five against France at Stade de France in Paris on Friday night, Erasmus went for consistency, choosing 21 of the 23 who did duty in Turin.Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach comes on to the bench to face France in place of Grant Williams, while Wilco Louw is elevated to the starting lineup. Thomas du Toit forms part of the bomb squad this weekend, while the total caps is a mammoth 1,165.Erasmus has once again gone with a six/two split between forwards and backs on the bench, as the Boks aim for their tenth win in their last 11 games against France, including last year’s rousing 32-17 win at Stade de France with 14 men. Springbok No 8 Jasper Wiese takes a high ball against France at Stade de France last year. (Photo: Jean Catuffe / Getty Images) Refocusing goalsGiven the tough schedule the Boks faced, and still face in 2026, Erasmus was cautious in his forecast for the season when he addressed the media in January.At that briefing, he made it clear that while winning Tests always remained the priority, keeping one eye on Rugby World Cup 2027 and developing player depth was also on the agenda.There were no bold predictions of an undefeated year. Instead, there was an implied acceptance that one or two setbacks might be in store in the pursuit of answers for 2027.Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus. (Photo: Daniel Hlongwane / Gallo Images) “Our mindset would be to try and win every single match like any other team over the world,” said Erasmus in January.“But I don’t think winning the Nations Cup [sic] – not to degrade the Nations Cup or anything – but it’s a difficult one to say, ‘Guys, let go balls to the wall and try to win all the competitions this year.’“And then next year you sit with a few questions which you don’t have answers for. So, I think we’ll keep doing the things like we do them. But, you know, one loss, or one bad performance and it gets emotional.“Overall, trying to win all the games we’re playing and then trying to win the Greatest Rivalry [against the All Blacks] is vital. But we certainly won’t sacrifice being ready for 2027.”You can read into that what you will. The Boks have already had one setback this year when Erasmus rested most of the team that won Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry for a one-off Mandela Plate Test against Australia, and it came unstuck in spectacular fashion. The Aussies won 42-38 despite being down to 11 men at one stage.The Boks, though, are in a good position to push to win the Nations Championship after four wins from four and a maximum 20 log points. They have a +140 points difference as well. New Zealand, who are in the same group as the Boks, are also undefeated and have a +73 points difference.Springbok centre Jesse Kriel on the attack against Italy in Turin last week. The Boks won 66-7. (Photo: Massimo Pincav / Gallo Images) Erasmus is clearly targeting a four-try bonus point win against France, knowing that anything less than 10 log points from matches against France and Ireland might not be enough to make it to the inaugural Nations Championship final at Twickenham in a little over two weeks.In some ways, Erasmus is treating this four-match segment of Tests as a mini-World Cup, as it mirrors what would be expected in the knockout stages of the global showpiece in 12 months.The Springboks remain in control of the southern hemisphere standings. (Graphic: DM using Claude AI)Short turnaround?Considering the match against France is on a Friday, there was some speculation that Erasmus would juggle the team because of having one fewer day to prepare.That might be the well-worn path that many other coaches go, but Erasmus is not just another coach.He has also clearly thought it through, and weighed up the fact that France had an even smaller turnaround window.“I don’t think it (the Italy clash) was the most physical game,” Erasmus explained. “Half of the squad’s minutes are not too bad. Guys like Manie (Libbok), Damian (de Allende), Jesse (Kriel) and Kurt-Lee (Arendse) haven’t played a lot of rugby recently because they’re Japanese-based players. “Jasper (Wiese), Ruan (Nortjé), Malcolm (Marx), similarly, so they’re fairly fresh.“Most of them played 40 or 60 minutes. We even took De Allende off to make sure that his minutes are managed well, the same as we did with Damian Willemse.“On top of that, we didn’t feel the game was too taxing. We also played at one o’clock in the afternoon and then we flew straight to France from Italy.“The French team only played at 9pm on Saturday (against Fiji). People say it’s a six-day turnaround, but because we played so early last week and now we play at 9pm in Paris, it’s almost a seven-day turnaround.”And as for France and what they might bring, especially in light of several injuries, most notably at flyhalf, Erasmus expected them to want to play a faster style of game.Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu on his way to a try against Italy in Turin last week. (Photo: Valerio Pennicino / Getty Images) Favourites?Erasmus also bristled at the notion that his team were the favourites in Paris because France is missing several players through injury.“Frans Malherbe (tighthead prop) is not here, and he’s going to play in January. He’ll be considered for the World Cup next year.“RG Snyman (lock) is not here. Even Eben Etzebeth has just flown out. He’s not going to get picked this weekend. Kwagga Smith (flank) is not here. André Esterhuizen (hybrid) is not here. Handré Pollard is not here. Cheslin Kolbe is not here.“So, who’s under strength? Different times of the year, different injuries happen.“We’re at the back end of our season, we’ve got a maximum of three games left. I think June is their window where they’re really match fit, energetic and they’re not punch drunk,” he said of France.“We feel at the end of the season we really have to graft – us, New Zealand, Australia, maybe Japan, Argentina. And they are building up to these matches, and then they have the Six Nations in two months’ time.“I sometimes struggle to understand why, if we’re clear favourites, it doesn’t make a difference, or when they’re clear favourites, it doesn’t make a difference.“So, being the favourites is probably… They might think they are, and we might think we are. The only bad thing about thinking you’re the favourite is you might become complacent, and we are definitely not complacent for this game.” DMSpringbok team to play France:15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Ruan Nortjé, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nché.Reserves: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.