Nation on song, imposing win record — France are cock-a-hoop for Boks quarter

France are cock-a-hoop and with good reason.

Their national team has given them cause to crow as pool A winners of the Rugby World Cup, but perhaps more significantly they now have a team that rarely departs the scene vanquished. Two defeats in their last 26 Tests tells the tale of a team growing in belief and, with it, expectation.

The host nation has found its collective voice with the La Marseillaise being sung in bars, bistros and brasseries across the land where World Cup matches are being televised.

The locals break into song even when their team isn’t playing. It is an almost involuntarily outpouring of fraternity and national fervour and on Sunday the Springboks expect their ears to ring at the country’s biggest stage, the Stade de France.

France and the Springboks clash in their World quarterfinal and the playful chat and verbal jousting in the build-up will culminate in a din-driven spectacle in the stands.

French mood was bolstered further with the news on Monday that captain, scrumhalf and one of the world’s best players, Antoine Dupont, has been cleared from the cheekbone fracture he suffered against Namibia to play on Sunday, if coach Fabien Galthié opts to include him.

“The crowd will be there and will be loud,” predicted Bok prop Trevor Nyakane, who now plies his trade in Paris with Racing 92.

“We all know the French crowd is very passionate, even if you play against the team that’s 14th in the Top 14, when you go there it’s actually hostile. It’s loud and it’s intimidating.”

Though the Stade de France is considered the national stadium, in many ways the La Marseillaise's spiritual home is Marseille and is delivered with no greater gusto than in the Stade Velodrome. The Boks last had a first-hand account of that in November last year and the noise was so deafening they had to employ coloured lights to get their message across.

Jasper Wiese did not play in that game but he was there to experience the cacophony. “We could barely speak to each other. I didn’t play in that game, I sat in the stands and you could barely speak to each other,” he said.

“You feed off that energy that the people are giving. Obviously they’ll be shouting for France but we won’t know it, because, well, some of the guys understand French but I don’t.”

Wiese concedes the pressure will go up a notch but that the Boks have been in long embrace of the expectation of them.

“We talk about pressure but it’s a privilege to have the pressure that we’re under. You feel pressure your whole life in South Africa as well. It’s difficult back there but it’s a privilege to represent 60-million people and to represent 33 guys — and the management here, to make them proud — and just to enjoy it and leave everything out on the field. There’s definitely a bit of pressure but we enjoy it.”

Nyakane has also warmed to the pressure of the occasion. He has long made peace with having to live in the moment. He was injured in the opening match of the World Cup four years ago and his tournament was over just as it started.

“Exiting early is a very disappointing thing and I wouldn’t wish it on any player out there. For me to be able to be sitting here right now is quite an honour and a pleasure. I can only just take it in day by day, and hopefully I will be there at the end when we finally manage to win the trophy,” he said.

“It’s hard to watch the boys play from the sidelines and not being around the guys who you’ve worked hard with the whole year, but right now I’m pleased to be here and I’m very excited. I can’t wait for the next three weeks or so of rugby that’s still coming.”