France put injuries behind them to stun Springboks

France put a raft of injuries behind them to withstand huge pressure and defeat South Africa 21-19 in a stunning Nations Championship victory in Paris.

The win is only the second for Les Bleus over the Springboks in the last 11 contests, with the hosts playing sensationally in the first half and digging in to survive and get over the line in the second.

Back-three Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, Théo Attissogbe and Louis Bielle-Biarrey each scored tries in the opening half, with France belying the fact they had to play Antoine Dupont at 10 due to four fly-halves being out injured (Matthieu Jalibert, Romain Ntamack, Thomas Ramos, Antoine Hastoy).

All three tries were converted by Maxime Lucu, with France 21-7 ahead at the half-time break, but the second half proved entirely different.

Though South Africa were shown a 20-minute red card to back-row Cobus Wiese for an illegal ruck clear-out, France coughed up sin-bins to Lucu, Grandidier-Nkanang and Régis Montagne – the latter as a result of scrum penalties which kept flowing the visitors’ way.

Scrum-half Cobus Reinach and hooker Malcom Marx scored tries in the second half for South Africa – adding to a first-half Jan-Hendrik Wessels effort – but Manie Libbok crucially missed the third conversion and the chance to draw level.

South Africa’s wholesale front-row changes less than an hour before kick-off – swapping their starting front-row for their replacements – had ​little impact on France’s fast start, with Dupont floating between fly-half and scrum-half from the off in a marvellous individual performance.

The match was considered a potential preview of the final at Twickenham in two weeks, but while France are closing in on representing the northern hemisphere – England and Ireland are now six points behind with two games to play – South Africa may not make it.

The Springboks will be overtaken atop the southern hemisphere standings and lose their No 1 world ranking if undefeated New Zealand beat Wales on Saturday in Cardiff, as expected.

On Friday, the Springboks closed to 21-14 with 30 minutes to go, revving up their power game for a grandstand finish.

France were bleeding penalties – nine in the scrum alone – but desperate scramble defence roused a packed Stade de France.

South Africa’s Pieter-Steph du Toit was held up over the try-line late on, while Lucu – France’s goalkicker with an 85 per cent success rate – ramped up the tension when he missed a straightforward penalty attempt that would have given France a 10-point lead.

Springboks hooker Marx inevitably scored from a rolling maul but Libbok, on for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, botched the conversion attempt that would have levelled the score with eight minutes left.

The Boks had one last chance in the final minute, but Bielle-Biarrey stopped the charge and Dupont jumped on the loose ball, earning Lucu the chance to kick out and end a gripping Test match.

Dupont: We kept intensity up the whole match – ‘That’s huge for us’

France fly-half Antoine Dupont told ITV:

“I feel tired! They [South Africa] are really intense during the 80 minutes.

“It was so hard today with the yellow cards. We kept the intensity the whole game, and that’s a huge thing for us today.

“We tried to adapt [Dupont at fly-half], we just had one day of training this week.

“I tried with Max [Lucu] to have the best combination possible. In attack and defence.

“With the energy of the entire team, it worked.”

What’s next?

For France, they next face Argentina in their third Nations Championship Test of the autumn at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday, November 21 (8.10pm kick-off).

South Africa travel to face Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin for their next Test, also on Saturday November 21 (4.40pm kick-off).