The Prague Post - South Africa's Wiese wary of 'hurt' France before re-match

The last time the sides met, the Springboks knocked out hosts Les Bleus in the quarter-final of the 2023 Rugby World Cup on the way to their fourth crown.

"I think it was genuine hurt after the World Cup, so I think we can expect them to be very emotional and very up for this game," Wiese told reporters.

"If there's one game that we're going to have to be up for, it's going to be this game," the Springbok, capped 41 times, added.

Wiese, 30, was an unused member of the squad for the 29-28 victory two years ago, a tense affair at a sold-out Stade de France decided by the accurate boot of Handre Pollard in the final quarter of an hour.

"I wasn't fortunate enough to play, but I was in the stands and the thing I can remember was the crowd was very loud and they started well," Wiese said.

"There were massive moments in that game that shifted the game for us, but at the end we got through it and I think that was a very, very big one for us," the abrasive Urayasu D-Rocks No.8 added.

Then director of rugby Rassie Erasmus guided the Boks to their second straight Webb Ellis trophy with a conservative, direct gameplan based around monstrous forwards, an aggressive defensive line and accurate kicking.

- 'Get stuck behind' -

Since beating New Zealand in the final by one point, Erasmus has returned to his former role of head coach and evolved their approach to be more expansive, with the help of former All Black Tony Brown as attack specialist.

"If you're going to do what you did in 2023, then everybody, the whole world moves on. The world of rugby, I mean," Wiese said.

"If you get stuck in a loop where you just do one thing or try and play a certain way then you're definitely going to get behind or get stuck behind.

"I think that speaks massively about the coaching staff, about the way they saw that we had to better our game and better our skills, and play a style of rugby that can still win us games but obviously evolve with the times as well.

"Hats off to the coaching staff," he added.

After their Autumn opener in Paris, the Boks travel to Turin to face Italy before heading to Dublin for another grudge match against Ireland who were the only side to beat them in the 2023 World Cup.

They conclude their tour in Cardiff where they play Wales on November 29.

Y.Blaha--TPP