France are openly using their bruising defeat to the Springboks as motivation heading into next Thursday’s Six Nations opener.

Forwards coach William Servat admits the loss to the Boks in Paris forced a hard reset inside the French camp.

Les Bleus were leading at the break against the world champions in November despite the Boks being reduced to 14 men, but were then blown away in the second half to suffer a 32-17 defeat.

Three second-half tries from the visitors, and a single penalty conceded, underlined the ruthlessness that has defined the Boks under Rassie Erasmus.

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According to Servat, that night has not been forgotten.

“It is certain that the South Africa match did a lot of good for us,” Servat said on Tuesday. “We were obviously disappointed with that poor performance, but it also helped us to work hard, to not call everything into question but to reflect and to develop our project in a way that makes us better prepared for the Six Nations.”

France recovered to beat Fiji and the Wallabies later that month, albeit without captain Antoine Dupont, but the Springbok defeat remains the reference point as Fabien Galthie’s side prepare to face Ireland in their opening Six Nations fixture.

That context also frames Galthie’s recent selection calls, which raised eyebrows after experienced figures Damian Penaud, Gregory Alldritt and Gael Fickou were left out of an expanded 42-man pre-tournament squad.

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Servat was quick to shut down suggestions of a purge.

“It’s important to be fair to everyone in the group,” he said. “When we think that some players deserve to take that place, they need to deserve it a little bit more than the older players.

“All the great players of this team began their France journey one day. It is important for us to reward them for their hard work and their club performances.”

– AFP

Photo: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images