Paul Roger, Media365: Published on Friday, December 8, 2023 at 10:24 PM.
World champions South Africa will face Ireland twice next summer in a test match, and will also face Portugal, a real revelation for the French World Cup.
This would be a great start. For the first time in its history, Portugal will face the Springboks, the world champions, on July 20 in South Africa.at a location yet to be determined. A test match that will be a real reward for “Os Lobos” (“The Wolves”), who delighted the rugby team during the last World Cup. In their second participation in the World Cup, those who had already left France, in 2007, after four defeats, performed much better this time. After the opening defeat against Wales (8-28), the team coached by Patrice Laguesquet scored their first points in the World Cup by keeping Georgia in check (18-18) before achieving a real breakthrough and achieving their first win in the competition. By beating Fiji 24-23.
Two fights against the Irish
“I don’t know what to say, I’m always afraid of flowery words but it was a great moment. They never ceased to surprise me, they managed to find unexpected abilities in the last action. “I was thinking more about keeping the result, but when I see how it ends… and this is not the first time they have done this to me,” replied their French coach and then replaced him by his compatriot Sébastien Bertranque, who was unable to combine this job, as the number of matches Portugal would play had increased significantly, with the coaching job he still held. In addition to this unprecedented encounter against Portugal, South Africa will face Ireland twice (July 6 and 13), the only team to have beaten them in the World Cup.They will then play two more finals against the New Zealanders (August 31 and September 7). They will conclude this series of test matches against Argentina, still at home, on September 28.
