France v South Africa LIVE: Latest score and updates as Springboks battle injury-hit hosts in huge Nations Championship clash

It’s had looked a settled selection from Rassie Erasmus, with just two changes to the Springboks 23 that proved much too strong for Italy. That was before those front row changes, though, which take it up to three – Gerhard Steenekamp and Jan-Hendrik Wessels join Thomas du Toit in the starting unit.

Elsewhere, Lood de Jager retains his second-row spot having been brought in late in Turin after Salmaan Moerat went down with back spasms in the warm-up. Among the replacements, Cobus Reinach takes the place of Grant Williams as the bench scrum-half cover.

South Africa XV: 1 Gerhard Steenekamp, 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 3 Thomas du Toit; 4 Lood de Jager, 5 Ruan Nortje; 6 Siya Kolisi (capt.), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Jasper Wiese; 9 Morne van den Berg, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu; 11 Ethan Hooker, 12 Damian de Allende, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse; 15 Damian Willemse.

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Paul de Villiers; 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.

France are forced to install captain Antoine Dupont at fly half with all of Romain Ntamack, Matthieu Jalibert, Thomas Ramos and Antoine Hastoy absent, with Maxime Lucu partnering his skipper in the halves. Gregory Alldritt is recalled for a first international appearance in nearly a year at No 8 as Francois Cros moves to the flank.

Julien Marchand is a welcome returnee at hooker as Peato Mauvaka drops to the bench. Among the replacements, a debut awaits young Pau playmaker Axel Desperes.

France XV: 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Julien Marchand, 3 Sipili Falatea; 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 5 Mickael Guillard; 6 Francois Cros, 7 Cameron Woki, 8 Gregory Alldritt; 9 Maxime Lucu, 10 Antoine Dupont (capt.); 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 12 Yoram Moefana, 13 Kalvin Gourgues, 14 Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang; 15 Theo Attissogbe.

Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Regis Montagne, 19 Charles Ollivon, 20 Tom Staniforth, 21 Esteban Capilla; 22 Axel Desperes, 23 Emilien Gailleton.

It’s been a pleasant enough day in Paris but the temperature is dropping swiftly on a November night. It’s always a great occasion at the Stade de France, though these 9.10pm local time kick offs can be a bit of a horror – still, with the start drawing ever closer, let’s take a closer look at the two teams…

Aha – some late tomfoolery from the Springboks. A switch of front rows from Rassie Erasmus with kick off nearing…

They did that in the second Test against New Zealand, too. Hmm.

These are two very good mauling teams, all the more important given how potent the lineout drive has become. The prominence of the maul is not to everyone’s taste, myself included, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t fun to be found in the details and variety that teams are utilising.

There’s plenty to keep an eye on officiating-wise tonight, from scrum set-ups to hip-drop tackles of the type that saw Australia’s Angus Bell sent to the sin bin last weekend. Here are all the key changes you need to know this November:

Finals weekend is now just a fortnight away, though it feels like we are still figuring out the Nations Championship format. South Africa and New Zealand are assured top-two finishes in the southern hemisphere pool, while what the Springboks do against France and Ireland will probably determine the northern shake-up.

Can France really beat South Africa with Antoine Dupont at fly half? It feels a tall task, even if tonight should be a thunderous occasion.

South Africa, meanwhile, make minimal changes after blowing away Italy.

That has meant he has made the bold call to hand Dupont a first international start at fly half, with Maxime Lucu brought into the starting side at scrum half.