The Blues face the weakest opponent in their Group A (21st nation in the World Rugby rankings) this Thursday evening at the Vélodrome stadium in Marseille. The match can be followed on France 2 (kick-off 9 p.m.), commented by Matthieu Lartot and his consultant Dimitri Yachvili, but also live on the Figaro website, where our expert Thomas Larroquette will take you through the confrontation minute by minute.
The Vélodrome stadium in Marseille has a habit of bringing good luck to the French XV with only two defeats in thirteen matches played in the Marseille city (84.6% success). The two losses were conceded against Argentina (14-24) in 2004 then, five years later, against the All Blacks (12-39). Their biggest victory dates back to the 2007 World Cup, 64-7 against Georgia in the group stage. Note that, due to the unavailability of the Stade de France for work in preparation for the Paris Olympic Games, the Blues will return there on February 2, 2024 to face Ireland as part of the next Six Nations Tournament.
The 13 matches of the French England 17-16 November 20, 2004: France-Argentina 14-24 November 5, 2005: France-Australia 26-16 August 18, 2007: France-England 22-9 September 27, 2007: France-Georgia November 64-78, 2008: France-Argentina 12-6November 28, 2009: France-New Zealand 12-39 November 8, 2014: France-Fiji 40-15 February 23, 2018: France-Italy 34-17 November 12, 2022: France-South Africa 30-26
The Welwitschias are participating in their 7th World Cup (present at all editions since 1999) and have the particularity of having lost the 24 matches they played in the group stage. However, the Namibians officially have a draw, 0-0, against Canada during the previous edition, in 2019 in Japan. Due to… the cancellation of this meeting due to Typhoon Hagibis! If they made history for having suffered the biggest rout of the competition (142-0 against Australia in 2003), they were however very close to snatching their first victory during the edition 2015 in England, losing by a small point, 16 to 17, against Georgia. During this edition, Namibia has already been outclassed by Italy (52-8) and New Zealand (71-3). Still in the World Cup, France and Namibia have already faced each other twice, losing 47-13 (in Bordeaux in 1999) and 87-10 (in Toulouse in 2007).
Antoine Dupont will lead the XV of France for the 19th time this Thursday evening in Marseille. An undefeated captain on French soil (13 victories). And almost invincible since he only lost once while exercising this responsibility, last February in Dublin during the Six Nations Tournament.
On the match sheet, two Namibian players play in France. Second-row Adriaan Ludick (Limoges, Nationale 2) will start the match while third-row PJ Van Lill (Capbreton-Hossegor, Regional 2; played by Dax, Bayonne and Valence-Romans) will take his place on the bench. The center and captain, Johan Deysel, could have fallen into this category. But if he wore the colors of Colomiers in Pro D2 (where he played with a certain Mathis… Galthié, USC scrum half and son of the Blues coach) since September 2018, his contract was not renewed this summer. “I won’t hide from you that it was a very difficult choice that I will certainly regret,” Colomiers coach Julien Sarraute admitted to AFP. Three other “French” were not selected by the Namibia coach for this meeting against the French XV: Torsten Van Jaarsveld, the hooker of Aviron Bayonnais (Top 14), Tiaan Swanepoel, the Valence opener of Agen (Nationale 2) and the pillar of Saint-Nazaire (Federal 3), Casper Villiers.
When he comes into play, Namibian PJ van Lill (39) will be playing his 11th World Cup match. At 39 years old, the third row of Capbreton-Hossegor (8th French division) and oldest player in this competition, is playing his fourth, and last…, World Cup.