More to French than flair

Cape Town - South African second row forward Victor Matfield lauded the France team prior to their Test clash here on Saturday and said there was much more to Marc Lievremont's side than flair alone.

"It will be a really big match," said Matfield, who was a member of the team beaten 20-13 by France in Toulouse last November.

"The French are one of the best teams in the world and although we've not had success against them recently, it's a long time since we've played them in South Africa and it's good to play them here, for a change.

"In my opinion, France will be one of the countries with a chance of the title at the World Cup next year so we'll try to get a mental edge over them, a few weeks before the Tri-Nations."

France coach Lievremont said his men had beaten the Springboks at their own game in Toulouse and Matfield concurred that France are now a more physically imposing adversary.

"We always talk about French flair, but they're also a very physical team," he said on Friday. "They're very strong on the fundamentals.

"They have a very good scrum, a good line-out and are very physical at the breakdown. We'll have to produce our best game to compete with them in every sector."