What can Andy Farrell learn from South Africa’s defeat in Paris?

It’s tempting to suggest that South Africa are human after all, following the 21-19 defeat to France, a reflection on the personal foibles and several self-inflicted shortcomings in performance terms that led to a frustrating night in Paris.

But in another context, the double and reigning world champions are hewn in the form of another human. The pack is a living, breathing embodiment of the work of their scrum coach Daan, who has made them largely unplayable in that set piece. It should have been the foundation stone for another victory. That it wasn’t was down to halfback and backline malfunctions.

South African head coach Rassie Erasmus commandeered the headlines pregame by flipping his two front rows, starting the bench and benching the starters an hour before kickoff. When Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw were summoned to the action on 35 minutes, it was a further example of his penchant for lateral thinking or parlour tricks. Choose your metaphor.

No one can dispute its efficacy on the night. The Springboks won eight scrum penalties, were awarded two free-kicks and had French replacement tight head Regis Montagne dispatched to the sin bin, left pancaked on the turf. He wasn’t alone in suffering that fate, but he paid the price for cumulative transgressions.

That last phrase will be a bugbear for the Springboks, their coaching team and, one suspects, world rugby when South Africa take up the right of reply to the decision-making of referee Andrea Piardi and the match officials, including TMO Matteo Liperini and foul play review officer Andrew Jackson.

Piardi had a difficult night. In a game with a two-point winning margin, everything is parsed by hindsight, and one aspect was particularly troubling for South Africa. When is a final warning, not a final warning?

The Italian official had issued a final warning to France at scrum time in the final quarter, and they appeared to infringe twice more in quick succession. What he penalised before he didn’t at that moment.

South Africa got away with the odd illegality; one whip-wheel saw their opponents punished instead and another time flanker Pieter Steph du Toit nearly scrummaged in the front row. But the Springboks can rightly feel aggrieved that they were urged to play away on occasion when scrums collapsed. One near the end of the match looked particularly galling for the visitors.

There were five yellow cards, one, Springbok number eight Japer Wiese’s, upgraded to a 20-minute red card. It should have been a straight red. Wiese launched himself like a missile, with a tucked shoulder, into the head/face of French centre Kalvin Gourgues.

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Lood de Jager, who had been sent off in this fixture a year ago, was a millimetre away from repeating that feat. He received a yellow for a poorly timed clip on Maxime Lucu. Piardi wanted to give a penalty but was correctly persuaded to change his mind. Perhaps on foot of that decision, he gave Lucu a yellow card for his tackle on Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

The French player bent at the hip in making the tackle, and it was the Springbok outhalf’s late dip and overstretch that was arguably the more dangerous action. Fine margins. France led 21-7 and should have been further ahead, but the Springboks are double world champions for a reason.

They scored 12 unanswered points in the second half and, with clearer thinking and a fumble or two less, would have won the match.

So, what did Ireland head coach Andy Farrell learn in advance of next Saturday’s clash with South Africa? The Springboks rely heavily on their set piece and kicking game. Ireland must find a way to avoid getting rinsed in the scrum, as they did last year. It’s not just the penalties; it’s what escalates from that point: yellow cards and the chance to kick their way into the opposition 22.

South Africa scored two maul tries against France and were a whisker away on another couple of occasions. France pursued two options at the lineout, compete in the air or stay down and try to sack the maul. Neither worked. The visitors won 100 per cent of their lineout and scrum possession. Don’t forget the eight penalties, two free-kicks and yellow card.

There is technical beauty in the beast that is the South African maul. The interplay of the pack, the accuracy in offloading and handling – Pieter Steph du Toit and Ruan Nortje were standouts – was in marked contrast with their backline brethren who, apart from centres Damien de Allende and Jesse Kriel, looked out of sorts.

Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg, outhalf Feinberg-Mngomezulu and fullback Damian Willemse were very much out of sorts. The Springboks’ main attacking threat was to kick the ball into the skies and look for a clean catch or a tap back. They rarely troubled France in the wider channels; they laboured and were predictable with that late swing in personnel from blind to open side.

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The French showed Ireland that when bringing line speed defensively and infiltrating the South African backfield, the Springboks can be hustled into silly mistakes, throwing offloads with a 30/70 chance of success and generally panicking when under pressure.

France also demonstrated both the value of playing the game at speed and the folly of overplaying off slow ruck ball. There are lessons in both for Ireland, as is not running into massed ranks of huge humans around the fringes of the breakdown.

Forewarned is not necessarily forearmed with South Africa. Teams have known what’s coming for the last two World Cup cycles, but no one has found a solution when it has mattered. France, minus several frontliners, did on Saturday night, but it helps when you’ve got Antoine Dupont and Louis Bielle-Biarrey on your side.