France hold off South Africa after tactical gamble pays off

Set CNA as your preferred source on Google

The Details

Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results.

Read a summary of this article on FAST.

Get bite-sized news via a new cards interface. Give it a try.

PARIS, Nov 13 : France beat South Africa 21-19 in a tactically intriguing contest on Friday, with Fabien Galthie's side overcoming the world champions after outfoxing Rassie Erasmus in a battle of coaching gambles.

South Africa's wholesale front-row changes had little impact on France's own ploy, with Antoine Dupont named at flyhalf before moving to his customary scrumhalf role during the match.

Dupont played a key role as the Six Nations champions secured their first victory over South Africa at the Stade de France since 2005. Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, Theo Attissogbe and Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored France's tries, while Maxime Lucu kicked six points.

Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Cobus Reinach and Malcolm Marx crossed for South Africa, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converting the first two tries. Jasper Wiese was shown a 20-minute red card after his yellow card was upgraded by the bunker review system for a dangerous clear-out at a ruck.

• CNA Games
• Guess Word
• Crack the word, one row at a time
• Buzzword
• Create words using the given letters
• Mini Sudoku
• Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
• Mini Crossword
• Small grid, big challenge
• Word Search
• Spot as many words as you can
• Show More
• Show Less

The victory left France on top of the Northern Hemisphere standings on 21 points. South Africa, suffering their first defeat of the Nations Championship, remained top of the Southern Hemisphere table on 21 points but could come under pressure from New Zealand.

France’s win underlined their credentials as contenders for the 2027 World Cup, exactly a year before the final, after they had lost nine of their previous 10 meetings with the Springboks.

That run included a one-point quarter-final defeat on home soil at the 2023 World Cup and a 32-17 loss last year, when South Africa had a player sent off before halftime.

France’s preparations were again disrupted by injuries, with hooker Julien Marchand hurt in the warm-up and replaced by Peato Mauvaka.

Flyhalf Romain Ntamack had dislocated his shoulder in last week’s win over Fiji and, with Matthieu Jalibert, Thomas Ramos and Antoine Hastoy also sidelined, Galthie handed Dupont his first international start at flyhalf and selected Lucu at scrumhalf.

The shirt numbers proved deceptive, however, as Dupont operated predominantly in his customary scrumhalf role and Lucu filled in at flyhalf, as he had after replacing Ntamack against Fiji.

UNCERTAINTY OVER ROLES

"It's an idea I put to them when we knew Ntamack wouldn’t be playing," Galthie told a press conference.

"They had a discussion, we watched a few matches, and we had a 40-minute training session and a 10-minute team run to set it up. I think it worked really well. Both of them played an outstanding game."

South Africa had expected the pair to swap roles during the match, but Erasmus said the uncertainty made France harder to prepare for.

"They have, at one position, a lot of injuries, but having Lucu and Dupont maybe strengthened the team in a way," Erasmus told reporters.

"(Dupont) is a brilliant player and it's difficult to plan against, especially when we didn't know he was going to play 10 or 9."

The pair were influential throughout as France made the most of Lood de Jager’s 13th-minute yellow card for a high tackle on Lucu, scoring twice during his absence.

Dupont passed to Lucu in the move that ended with Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang scoring the opening try before the France captain’s left-footed 50-22 kick created the platform for Attissogbe’s effort.

Dupont then sent Bielle-Biarrey over with a grubber kick in the 32nd minute.

South Africa were forced to chase the game but Jan-Hendrik Wessels, drafted into the starting side when Erasmus reshuffled his front row about an hour before kick-off, scored from a lineout maul on the half-hour.

Errors and indiscipline disrupted the second half, with Wiese handed a 20-minute red card before Grandidier-Nkanang was sent to the sin bin six minutes later for a deliberate knock-on.

The winger’s yellow card came just as Lucu returned after being sin-binned for a high tackle shortly before halftime.

Reinach powered over a minute later and South Africa dominated much of the second half before Marx scored from another maul after France tighthead prop Regis Montagne was shown a yellow card.

Libbok had the chance to level the scores but sent the conversion wide with seven minutes remaining.

France then survived a final South African attack before the home crowd erupted at the final whistle.

The match marked the first time a sporting event had been staged at the Stade de France on November 13 since the 2015 Paris attacks, which began outside the stadium.

France face Argentina next week, while South Africa travel to Ireland, before the teams could meet again in the final.