Les Bleus will look to lay down a marker agianst Eddie Jones’ Japan when they get their Autumn Nations Series campaign underway at Stade de France on Saturday. Darry Worthington previews.
2024 Autumn Nations Series
France v Japan
Saturday 9 November – 22:10
Stade de France – Saint-Denis
The hosts will face far more challenging Tests in the coming weeks with New Zealand and Argentina coming to town. They will still need to be wary of a Japanese side that may not be producing results right now but is capable of giving the European powerhouse a run for its money should the French not give a decent account of themselves.
To Win Match
France N/A | Draw 50/1 | Japan 14/1
Handicap tba
France (-33.5) 9/10 | Japan (+33.5) 9/10
The French return to action for the first time since they faced Argentina back in July. For a lot of their squad, however, this will be the first time they pull on a national jumper since the Six Nations concluded with head coach Fabie Galthie opting to give his big guns a rest during the mid-year tour of South America.
The hosts for Saturday’s encounter have fared decently enough this year finishing second in the Six Nations with three wins from five games while their second stringers gave a good account of themselves on in South America, drawing a two-match series with Argentina, winning the first game 13-28 before going down 33-25 in the second. They also took on Uruguay during this tour beating the minnows 28-43.
Japan haven’t enjoyed as good a run of results as their opponents with Eddie Jones’ first year back at the helm being far from spectacular. The Brave Blossoms finished as runners-up in the Pacific Nations Cup and suffered heavy defeats at the hands of New Zealand, Italy and England in one-off Tests. They also went down to Georgia in July.
It will be interesting to see what Galthie does with his team selection here. He’s already given fringe players a run this year and with France only playing three Autumn Internationals, I suspect he’ll be eager to give his big hitters a lot of game time, especially with the Six Nations a couple of months away. One man he won’t be able to call upon is Romain Ntamack, with the Toulouse fly-half nursing a calf injury.
Verdict: France (-)
I’m expecting an open game and a big France win so I’ll be backing the hosts on the minus and I’ll also be dabbling in the totals over points markets once the Live In-Play system comes online after kick-off.
