As Monday morning dawned, this now thirty-year-old rugby writer awoke feeling like a kid counting down the days till Christmas morning. 

Now just three days away from kick-off, the opening match of Rugby World Cup 2023 is set to be an absolute doozy as hosts France tackle the mighty All Blacks in Paris. 

Starting the tournament with what is almost certainly the pool-deciding match will have the home fans chewing their fingernails to a dangerous point. 

Whilst the French squad will outwardly hold no fear for the men in black, there will be a little voice in the back of the threat posed by their southern hemisphere rivals. 

Widely believed to be a step below previous World Cup-winning vintages, this All Blacks squad enter the clash on the back of a record 35 – 7 defeat at the hands of the Springboks.

Dismissing this performance as a one-off, flash-in-the-pan slip-up has been the narrative that has been circulated by those with a disposition towards the black jersey. 

From a neutral perspective, never before have the Kiwis looked so out of their depth as the Springboks pulverised their defence line with sheer brute force and aggression. 

That evening in Twickenham in front of a raucous 82,000 sell-out crowd, of which the vast majority were South Africa, will have done one of two things for Ian Foster’s All Blacks. 

In the darkest timeline, it will have stunted all momentum that has been gathered throughout their victorious Rugby Championship campaign. Clawing them back into the dark hell that was their 2 – 1 series loss at home to Ireland in 2022. 

During that series, the Irish were clinical, organised and in a different stratosphere to the All Blacks. So much so that they caused a reshuffle in the New Zealand coaching ranks and a change in their approach to the game as a whole. 

This shock first-ever home loss to Ireland and first home series loss in the professional era was the catalyst for an improved All Blacks squad. Winning the 2022 Rugby Championship, albeit narrowly, and completing an undefeated tour of Europe again narrowly, it appeared as though the Kiwis were once again on a positive trajectory. 

Leading us on to the most spin on this Springbok loss, could it prove to be just the proverbial kick up the you know what that was needed to bring an end to any complacency? 

Of course, only time will tell, but if there were one side that could match the physical intensity that the South Africans brought to Twickenham, it would be the French. 

As the Springboks further demonstrated their otherworldly strength in depth in the forward pack by bringing on seven forward replacements just after half-time. Les Bleus head coach Fabien Galthie may well have been watching and pondering whether this tactic could be utilised by his squad. 

Uniquely, these two squads are perhaps the only two with enough versatility in both the pack and backline to make this tactic work. 

For the Boks, backrow-cum-utility-back Kwagga Smith’s ability to cover both the backline and backrow afforded Springbok head honchos Jacques Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus the opportunity to take a gamble on raw power. 

France, too, have players capable of pulling off such a devilishly daring plan, namely one Sekou Macalou, who is equally adept on the wing as he is on the flank. 

To truly make this work, Galthie would need to have confidence that a reshuffle in his backline would not stunt his side’s fluid power game. 

With players such as Thomas Ramos and Antione Dupont set to be certain starters, a reshuffle of the backline is highly plausible. 

Starting with Ramos, who can shift between fullback and flyhalf with ease, whilst Dupont can slot one position out from his usual scrumhalf berth. The halfbacks are clearly well-covered. 

Elsewhere, Damian Penaud, whilst regularly a winger, can move to fullback to accommodate Macalou, so too can presumed starting flyhalf Mathieu Jalibert.

One area where the French will be unable to replicate Springbok's success is in the centres, namely in the twelve channel. 

Due to the unfortunate injury to powerhouse La Rochelle centre Jonathan Danty, the French will not have quite the same bite in the middle of the pitch from set piece. 

Whilst the duo of 23-year-olds Yoram Moefana and Arthur Vincent are highly talented, neither are renowned as tackle-busting centres but rather skilful ball players. 

Despite this one area of drop-off in the power stakes, on balance, the French pack has more than enough grunt to put on a display for the ages.

Thus, the question now facing the French coaching staff is, does the reward outweigh the risk?