SPONSORED | If the Boks and France do meet in RWC quarters, it will be a clash of doppelgangers

If the stars align and the Springboks do meet France in the quarter-finals of this year's World Cup tournament, it will be a meeting, essentially, of two rugby doppelgangers.

At least that's the prism Jannie du Plessis will be viewing the encounter through.

The former Springbok prop, who played 70 Tests in an excellent international career, is in a unique position of having experienced the dark on-field spaces of both South African and French rugby.

And, as he tells Dan Nicholl in the latest episode of the latest edition of Rugby Players’ Guide to France, an exciting series produced by BrightRock that gives SA rugby fans a slice of the French way of rugby and life ahead of the World Cup, South Africa and France share an eerily similar penchant for still marrying old-school with modernity. 

"French rugby is something between amateurism and professionalism," said Du Plessis.

"So you've got these incredible athletes. Most of the clubs have big budgets so they buy the players that they want. But the soul of French rugby is very much a little bit ... I wouldn't call it, I can't say backwards. Maybe about 10 years behind because they still like a little bit of argy bargy.

"They do like forwards dominating and kicking a guy on the shin and grabbing him on the jersey because, I think for French people, rugby is entertainment. It's all about showmanship.

"And that's why, I mean, slow people like me can't score tries. The only show we can put on is like, maybe, making the highlights reel with a good straight right [hook]!"

With so much scrutiny on discipline nowadays - the Owen Farrell, Billy Vunipola and George Moala incidents recently have shown how hawkish eyes are on card-able indiscretions - you probably won't see too many punches