Boks need to be at their peak

The Boks will have to be at the very top of their powers this evening if they hope to beat a very talented French side in Toulouse.

The Frenchies have been talking up their own physicality and tuned that they have the belief that they'll be able to top the Boks at the collisions and set pieces. That however is easier said than done. Just ask the British and Irish Lions and the Kiwis.

The Boks should be reasonably well rested and last week's farce against Leicester shouldn't have any impact on this crop. It's an experienced side with only Zane Kirchner in the starting 15 never really having been tested at the highest level.

In Morné Steyn the Boks have quite possibly the best kicker in the game today and in Fourie du Preez they have the sport's best srummie. That combined with Heinrich Brussow's fetching abilities, Victor and Bakkies' physical approach and line–out capabilities and some creative flair out wide should make the Boks too strong for France.

Do expect them to struggle in the scrums though. John Smit still hasn't properly convinced as a tighthead and in this front row's last outing they were absolutely obliterated by a very young Cheetahs scrum. Fortunately for the Boks they have two members of that front row on the bench this evening and also welcome back tighthead extraordinaire CJ van der Linde, who's been plying his trade in Ireland for the last year.

Checking CJ in action for the Boks again should be a massive treat.

Be warned though. This is a power French outfit. They have plenty of speed and creative spark in the backs and two massive, young and hungry centres. They also have one hell of a loose trio (although no out and out breakdown specialist) and a tight five who could make life well tough for the Boks.

It's going to be rad though. Expect some fireworks, especially early on and don't be surprised if a yellow card or two is shown. The Frenchies have stopped just short of billing this as a streetfight so things could get pretty hairy.

FHM are going for a Bok win by 5 points

Teams:

Boks: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.

16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Andries Bekker, 20 Danie Rossouw, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier

France: 15 Damien Traille, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Fabien Barcella.

16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Sebastien Chabal, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Marty, 22 Maxime Médard

Good omen is the fact that the last time the Boks were in France they won the World Cup. Sweet hey?