PARIS (The Thursday Times) — France beat world champions South Africa 21-19 in the Nations Championship on Friday night, their first win over the Springboks at the Stade de France in 21 years, after holding on through three yellow cards and a second half in which they did not score a point.
Antoine Dupont, named at fly-half for the first time in a Test, played most of the match in his usual scrum-half role while Maxime Lucu took the ball at first receiver. The switch helped a heavily depleted France race to a 14-0 lead and a 21-7 advantage at half-time.
South Africa came to Saint-Denis unbeaten in the new competition and as overwhelming favourites, but never led. Their last chance came in the closing minutes, when replacement fly-half Manie Libbok missed the conversion of Malcolm Marx’s rolling-maul try that would have levelled the scores.
“It was a huge game for us,” Dupont said, adding that the team had only one training session to settle on the combination.
A ball off the face
The game turned after South Africa lock Lood de Jager was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle. France struck at once, with wing Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang diving in at the corner after 16 phases.
The second try was a gift. A pass from Yoram Moefana hit centre Kalvin Gourgues in the face and bounced over the try-line, where full-back Théo Attissogbe got to it first. “I’m not sure how you prepare a defence for a ball that bounces off a guy’s face,” South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus said.
Hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels pulled one back from a lineout drive, but Dupont answered with a grubber kick for Louis Bielle-Biarrey to chase down in the left corner.
Erasmus had sprung a surprise before kick-off, moving his first-choice front row of Ox Nché, Malcolm Marx, and Wilco Louw to the bench. He sent all three on in the 35th minute. South Africa also had a try by wing Kurt-Lee Arendse ruled out for offside just before the break.
Fourteen men and a missed kick
France started the second half a man down after Lucu was shown a yellow card for a high tackle. South Africa then lost No. 8 Jasper Wiese, whose yellow card for a dangerous clear-out was upgraded to a 20-minute red. Grandidier-Nkanang and replacement prop Régis Montagne were also sent to the sin-bin.
The Springboks dominated the scrum, where France conceded nine penalties, and Cobus Reinach finished a maul to close the gap to 21-14. Pieter-Steph du Toit was held up over the line, and Lucu, normally one of the most reliable kickers in the game, missed a simple penalty that would have put France 10 points clear.
Marx then crashed over from another maul, but Libbok’s kick drifted wide. In the final minute, Bielle-Biarrey stopped one last South African charge, Dupont pounced on the loose ball, and Lucu kicked it into touch.
“We weren’t just outplayed, we were out-thought,” Erasmus said.
France were already down to their sixth-choice tighthead prop and fifth-choice fly-half, and lost their best scrummaging hooker, Julien Marchand, to an injury in the warm-up. Peato Mauvaka replaced him for his 50th Test.
The final of the new competition is at Twickenham in two weeks. Six Nations champions France look set to represent the northern hemisphere, while South Africa will drop from the top of the southern standings if unbeaten New Zealand beat Wales on Saturday.
