France held on to record only their second win over South Africa in 11 meetings in the super-charged atmosphere of the Stade de France on a night of feverish action and see-sawing fortunes, recording a famous 21-19 victory (halftime 21-7) to tumultuous acclaim.
The French scored three tries in 17 first-half minutes and then held on through the second half to edge to a victory ultimately built on resolute defence against a Bok team that made rather more handling errors than they would have wished and didn’t extract full reward for their increasing tight phase dominance.
The visitors were hamstrung by cards for dangerous play – first a yellow in the tackle by Lood de Jager which swung the first half on its head and the second a 20-minute red for Jasper Wiese which reduced the team to 14 for the first part of the second half.
Despite that the team performed bravely to fight back against a French team fuelled by the desire to beat the Boks in Paris for the first time since 2005.
The Boks’ tries came from lineout drives from hookers Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Malcolm Marx and a close-range pick-and-drive from Cobus Reinach. A missed conversion of the final try by Manie Libbok saw the chance to level slip away in the final 10 minutes.
South Africa take a point from the match by losing by fewer than seven points but could slip from the top of the southern hemisphere log if New Zealand beat Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.
The game turned in the 12th minute when De Jager was yellow carded for a high tackle on Maxime Lucu. It not only reduced the Boks by a man but also reversed an attacking position as they were just about to set an attacking scrum just outside the French 22.
Instead, they found themselves pinned back in their 22 for the next 20 minutes as the home team stormed in for three tries – two with the visitors a man down – with one breakout maul score for the Boks, by Wessels.
But it was a rare moment as the blue wave, roared on by the passionate crowd, stormed the Springbok Bastille.
It took them 16 phases to get their first score in the 15th minute when Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang found a two-metre-wide channel on his flank to dive over the Bok defence that had been sucked in.
The second try was more fortunate with the ball cannoning off the head of Kalvin Gourgues into the in-goal area for Theo Attissogbe to reach it ahead of Damian Willemse eight minutes after the first.
The Boks were the stronger in the tight phases and a scrum penalty with De Jager now back on the field gave them field position to set up a maul for Wessels to spin off the back of the advancing pack to touch down.
The Boks looked dangerous when they could find their way into the red zone, but a moment of French brilliance reopened the lead. Peato Mauvaka broke from a ruck in midfield on halfway, offloaded to Antoine Dupont, who immediately grubbered to the corner where Louis Bielle-Biarrey won the race to the touchdown.
Lucu converted all three tries before he too was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on a surging Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who had just missed touch from a penalty but whose curving run from regained position threatened.
The French looked vulnerable every time the Boks entered the 22 and so it seemed when Kurt-Lee Arendse hurtled in from his right wing to collect a throw over the lineout by Marx and dart over barely touched. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted but the TMO intervened to rule that the speedster had encroached the 10 metres before the throw was made.
The lead remained 14 points at the break as a result and things worsened for the Boks four minutes into the new half when Wiese received a 20-minute red card for a dangerous clean out.
Despite that a sensational break out from virtually his own goal line by Jesse Kriel took the Boks to the French 22 and they received a yellow of their own when Grandidier-Nkanang was sent to the sidelines for a deliberate knock down to prevent an overlap and run in.
But the momentum was swinging the Springboks way and from a succession of drives Reinach touched down from a metre at the foot of a pole to reduce the lead to seven points.
Despite being reduced to 14 until the 65th minute the Boks were getting on top, but the French was resolute and held up the Boks best chance since Reinach’s try when Pieter-Steph du Toit was held up over the line.
But France’s respite was brief. Another collapsed scrum reduced France to 14 when Regis Montagne and the resulting penalty and lineout maul ed to a 32nd Test try for Marx.
Replacement flyhalf Libbok hooked the conversion and the Boks chances of avoiding defeat when with it.
France 21 (21) [Tries: Aaron Grandidier Nkanang, Theo Attissogbe, Louis Bielle-Biarrey; Conversions Maxime Lucu 3] Springboks 19 (7) [Tries: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Cobus Reinach, Malcolm Marx; Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 2]
Source: super.rugby
