The defending champions and the host nation are on a collision course that is set to rock the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
South Africa, the three-time and defending champions, face hosts and three-time losing finalists France in Paris on Sunday night in a match that is highly likely to produce one of this year's finalists.
South Africa, hoping to defend the title they won in 2019 and become the first four-time winners of the trophy, square off against the best team never to have won the trophy.
France — who lost in the inaugural final in 1987 to New Zealand in Auckland, Australia in Cardiff in 1999 and again New Zealand in Auckland in 2011 — are desperate to atone in front of their home fans. The French sense and feel this is their moment.
Though the Boks boast undoubted World Cup pedigree, they will square off against worthy adversaries who have lost just twice in their last 26 matches.
France have suffered just one defeat in their last 10 matches. That defeat came when they fielded a second-string team against Scotland in Edinburgh in preparation for the World Cup.
Their last meaningful defeat came in Dublin in the Six Nations earlier this year.
The Boks' have been more inconsistent over the last two years, but their rebuilding job required urgency after not playing in 2020.
The Springboks' form has been better this year, winning eight of their 10 Tests. The two defeats came at the hands of the All Blacks and Ireland, the two teams who have also been placed on a premature collision course.
Though France will be buoyed by much patriotic fervour this week, South Africa's record against the hosts over the last decade has been impressive. The Boks have beaten France on seven occasions across their last 10 Tests. The Boks won those seven in a row, but that sequence was snapped with a tense 29-26 defeat in Marseille in November last year.
In the teams' two encounters in the Rassie Erasmus/Jacques Nienaber era, both matches were high-scoring affairs. The 2018 clash in Paris ended 30-26 in the Boks' favour.
There will be much to glean for both sets of coaches from last year's thunderous clash in Marseille, but Bok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick was keen to point out the bones from 2018 should not be ignored.
The Boks appeared destined for defeat before Bongi Mbonambi scored from a maul in the 84th minute.
The Boks also have an impressive record at the Stade de France. France have squared up to the Boks five times at the now iconic stadium. The Boks lost the first two in 2001 and 2005 but went on to win in 2013, 2017 and 2018.
The Boks have a good record at the stadium, having won seven of their 10 Tests there. On their first visit to Stade de France in 1999, they did not meet France but it was England who lost an enthralling World Cup quarterfinal, thanks largely to the still-unsurpassed five drop goals from Jannie de Beer.
Curiously, the Boks have never played France there in a World Cup match, but they have beaten England three times in St Denis, including the 2007 final. They also beat Argentina there in the semifinal of that tournament.
Sunday's Test will break new ground — and many hearts.
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