Rassie Erasmus is not allowing his Springboks team to become complacent for the Nations Championship meeting with France.

South Africa head into the match off the back of a comprehensive 66-7 victory over Italy to kickstart their end-of-year tour off in style and now turn their attention to an injury-stricken French outfit who cruised to a win over Fiji in Lyon.

Fabien Galthie is without a host of first-choice players for the Friday night clash in the capital city, with the biggest concern being at fly-half, with both Matthieu Jalibert and Romain Ntamack missing the grudge match.

Thomas Ramos, who has shifted from full-back into the number 10 jersey when Jalibert and Ntamack have been unavailable previously, is also sidelined, which has compounded the team’s woes. Galthie has reacted by calling in reinforcements, with Axel Desperes, Louis Carbonel and Louis Le Brun included in the preparations for the Boks.

Reports in France suggest that Lucu is the leading contender for the number 10 jersey, with the Bordeaux Begles scrum-half routinely training in the position with the national team and having played there for his club too. The 33-year-old also filled the void when Ntamack was forced off the pitch against Fiji.

Rassie Erasmus makes France fly-half prediction

While the French press believes that it will be Lucu who combines in the halfbacks with Antoine Dupont, Erasmus predicted that Galthie would instead turn to young outside centre Kalvin Gourgues.

“It will be Lucu or the 13,” the Springboks boss said after naming his team on Monday.

“I’ve just got a feeling that they are going to play a more physical game. I’m not sure that if they play Lucu there, they will get the physicality that they want. They will get the game sense and the understanding. They have a strong 12, they have amazing wingers, full-back, and nine.

Erasmus says that the Springboks have experienced a similar injury crisis at fly-half before and have since gone about planning for these kinds of situations by trialling other players in the position.

“We’ve lost also a couple of 10s before, and that does cause a disruption. At one stage, we put Faf de Klerk at 10 and played Quan Horn there too and could even have Andre Esterhuizen,” he said.

“If the ball doesn’t go through nine’s hands to the forwards, it goes to 10, and then the 10 must make decisions. So I think they’ll probably go with a more physical ten and then put Lucu on a little later – when it’s a bit more open and they’ll try to move around.

“I think they’ll try to move us around, but we’re 100% sure that in the beginning it’s going to be straightforward up and down, both teams just to see who can get dominance.”

Springboks won’t be complacent

Many have slated the Springboks as the favourites heading into the fixture with South Africa winning nine of the last 10 meetings between the two nations with France’s injury list also counting against them.

Erasmus’ two changes from the win over Italy have been tactical switches with Thomas du Toit and Wilco Louw swapping roles while Cobus Reinach has replaced Grant Williams on the bench. The head coach also resisted the urge to throw Eben Etzebeth right back into the matchday 23 after he joined the squad after missing the opening weekend through injury.

The team that will face France is effectively the strongest that Erasmus has at his disposal but the head coach explained that they do have injury setbacks too.

“Frans Malherbe is not here, but he will play in January. He will be considered for the World Cup next year. RG Snyman is not here; Eben Etzebeth has just out; he’s not going to get picked,” he said.

“Kwagga Smith, Andre Esterhuizen, Handre Pollard, and Cheslin Kolbe are not here, so we are also understrength. At different times of the year, different injuries happen. We are at the back end of our season; we’ve got a maximum of three games left.

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.

“They played in Six Nations, and then they played in June; that is the window where I think they are really match fit and energetic, and they’re not punch-drunk. We feel that at the end of the season, we really have to graft us New Zealand, Australia, maybe Japan, and Argentina, and they are building up to these matches and then they have the Six Nations in two months’ time. So I guess the two hemisphere competitions, with us playing in the URC, help us a little bit, and having players in Japan.

“They might think they are the favourites, and we might think that we are, and the only bad thing about thinking that you are the favourites is you might become complacent, and we are definitely not complacent for this game.”