BOK BLEUS : France resist Springboks’ second-half rearguard to win Paris thriller

The Springboks have made a habit of winning tight games against the odds over the past eight years, but at a raucous Stade de France on Friday 13 November, they were unable to conjure another great escape despite a forceful second-half comeback.

France edged the Boks by two points, while failing to score a point in the second half. In the process Les Bleus also survived three yellow cards, playing 28 minutes of the second half with 14 men.

Scrumhalf Maxime Lucu, wing Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang and prop Régis Montagne were carded to increase the anxiety of the 80,000 plus crowd.

It was the French national team’s first win in Paris over the Boks since 2005 and only their second win in their last 11 matches against South Africa (SA).

The outcome leaves the Boks in danger of not qualifying for the Nations Championship final, even though Rassie Erasmus’s men still lead the southern hemisphere standings on 21 points.

The All Blacks though, are undefeated and have matches against Wales and England to come. The Boks face Ireland in Dublin next week.

Ill-discipline and mistakes

While the Boks will rue not being able to conjure another great comeback, the reality was they made far too many errors to expect more.

Perhaps the first mistake was in the coaching box, when Rassie Erasmus swapped his entire front row before kick-off – as he had done against the All Blacks earlier this year.

Although the three front-rankers were not the problem, the Boks were collectively poor in the first half. So it does beg the question whether these “mind games” are worth it.

While the pack was immense as usual, with a sensational display from flank Pieter-Steph du Toit the standout, the general attack and ball handling behind the scrum was poor.

Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu endured a torrid evening, as did scrumhalf Morné van den Berg, whose box-kicking was inaccurate.

By contrast, France’s experiment of pairing Maxime Lucu and Antoine Dupont as interchangeable halfbacks, created huge problems in the first half.

The duo playmaker ploy kept the Boks guessing and between the two creative forces, France were able to produce tries almost from nothing. That ultimately proved to be the difference.

While the magicians conjured their magic, the rest of the French team largely out-hustled the Boks on defence and won the gain-line battle.

Key moments?

The Boks might point to some key moments – not being awarded a penalty try when France Grandidier-Nkanang was adjudged to have deliberately knocked the ball on inside his own 22. The French wing was yellow-carded because the Boks had a two-man overlap, yet referee Andrea Piardi did not award a penalty try.

At one stage between the 61^st and 65^th minute, the Boks won four scrum penalties in a row. Yet despite two “final” warnings, Piardi never brandished another yellow card.

Just before halftime wing Kurt-Lee Arendse’s try from a strike play off the top of a lineout was chalked off when the TV director intervened to highlight that he might have been 1ocm offsides. These were smallest of small margins that defined the outcome.

But the Boks didn’t do enough to take the result out of the hands of the officials. They conceded a raft of penalties in the opening half hour and had two cards for two dangerous tackles. That’s on them.

Lood de Jager was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Lucu and Jasper Wiese was red-carded for a dangerous clean and shoulder to the head on France centre Kalvin Gourgues.

Deep hole

The Springboks were in a deep hole by halftime, having conceded three tries, two coming while lock De Jager was in the sin bin.

Yes, there was a whiff of France living over the offsides line without sanction, but the real problem was the Boks turning over ball. Six knock-ons told a story.

Les Bleus like nothing more than to attack from turnover ball, and with the wonderful Dupont pulling the strings, mostly from scrumhalf, instead of his advertised position of flyhalf.

That was a key aspect of the game. The Boks were unable to match the French pace on attack and speed of thought. With a man down, those problems were compounded.

The Springboks started brightly, made a few forays into French territory and came away with nothing.

Soon after the momentum shifted the way of the home team, on the back of some Bok errors, and from there it was an uphill battle for the world champions.

After De Jager was yellow-carded in the 12^th minute, France sensed the moment and upped the ante.

A sustained period of pressure went through multiple phases before Grandidier-Nkanang finished strongly in the corner.

Fullback Théo Attissogbe was next on the scoresheet, when he pounced on a ricochet pass off the head of Gourgues to beat fullback Damian Willemse to score.

The Boks briefly fought back with a try from the back of a rolling maul from hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

But within seconds France had their third try, which started with a linebreak by hooker Peato Mauvaka, a deft grubber by Dupont and the lightning pace of wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey.

The second half belonged almost entirely to SA, and tries from scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, who burrowed over from close range, and another rolling maul try from hooker Malcolm Marx, just wasn’t enough.

Replacement Manie Libbok missed the conversion to level the scores, but with seven minutes remaining there was still time for the Boks to win it.

Unfortunately, their lack of accuracy and a killer blow deserted the team, leaving Erasmus with much to ponder as they head to Dublin. DM

Scorers:

France – Tries: Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, Théo Attissogbe, Louis Bielle-Biarrey. Conversions: Maxime Lucu (3).

South Africa – Tries: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Cobus Reinach, Malcolm Marx. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2).