Springboks assistant coach Felix Jones expects France to unleash fresh tactical surprises when the two teams clash in the Nations Championship at the Stade de France on Friday night, warning that Les Bleus are far from the predictable side of three years ago.

Reflecting on the evolution of France’s approach since their epic 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final duel, Jones noted how the French have adapted their kicking strategies to exploit space behind aggressive defensive lines.

In 2023, France used captain Antoine Dupont to kick long and deep into the opposition 22, waiting for the opposition to kick to touch and then using the resulting line-out as an attacking platform. This also gave their big forwards some time to “rest” while watching a kicking battle.

However, in that Rugby World Cup quarter-final, Springbok fullback Damian Willemse called for a scrum after taking a mark, which forced the French forwards to front up before being penalised, allowing the Boks to kick to touch and launch an attack from a lineout.

That law, which Bok coach Rassie Erasmus dubbed the “Dupont Rule”, has since been changed, with teams now unable to take a scrum from a free-kick.

In the meeting between the two teams last year, France kicked a lot more contestable kicks, which has become the norm in international rugby following the banning of blockers and obstruction runners.

Jones is expecting more of the same on Friday, plus a little extra unpredictability from the home side.

"They put us under pressure with a lot of attacking-style kicks, trying to exploit as much space as they could in behind us with a different style and a bit of unpredictability that comes with that," Jones said. "So we are expecting a potential tactical element that we may not have seen yet.

“This contest has traditionally been very close and very enthralling to watch because of the intensity of the collisions and the athletes that are playing each other. We are anticipating some tactical nuances that we haven’t seen already. It could definitely come in the form of some innovative kicking."

While the rivalry between the back-to-back World Champions and France remains fiercely intense on the field, Jones emphasised that a strong mutual respect exists between the management teams off it, downplaying talk of lingering animosity following the Springboks’ 29–28 victory in that 2023 quarter-final.

The build-up to last year’s Test in Paris was billed as a revenge match, with the French still harbouring feelings that they should have won that quarter-final and possibly progressed all the way to the final.

The Springboks, however, produced a monumental effort to win, coming from behind after suffering a permanent red card to Lood de Jager to down the French in front of their partisan fans.

"I think that niggle is probably mostly on the field, and again, it comes back to the intensity," Jones explained. Malcolm [Marx] spoke earlier about what it means to play for the Springboks and it's probably the same for the French.

"Fabien [Galthie] was one of the first coaches from outside Ireland I got to know when he visited us at Munster with Raphael Ibanez.

"There are very good relationships off the pitch. But on the pitch, we want to win, and we have no doubt they want to win just as badly."