Antoine Dupont masterclass sees France edge thriller with South Africa
France's wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey celebrates. Pic: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP via Getty Images.
France’s Antoine Dupont threw himself on a loose ball as if his life depended on it in the dying seconds of a thrilling, exhausting 21-19 victory over South Africa at Stade de France.
Seconds later, the ball was somewhere in the crowd, as the players on the pitch and the crowd in the stands celebrated the stunning finale of a match that will rank high in the annals for years to come. It was France’s first victory over South Africa in Paris since November 2005.
Rassie Erasmus’ latest trick is to name his squad early in a pre-match power play, then make key personnel changes closer to the game – and he did it again in Saint-Denis, swapping-out South Africa’s starting and bench front rows minutes before kick-off.
France, too, made a late change, after hooker Julien Marchand pulled up in the warm-up. Peato Mauvaka started in his place, with Maxime Lamothe coming down from the stands to take his place on the bench.
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Whatever Erasmus’ reasoning for the starting line-up changes — made so late that starters Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp, and Thomas du Toit wore subs’ numbers — whatever the recent history between the two sides, the breathless match that followed didn’t so much exceed expectations as shatter them.
It was like being back in October 2023, such was the ferocity, pace, and intensity. Even the pitch could not cope – it cut up under the power of the South African scrum.
The first 15 minutes may have passed without a score. But no one watching was complaining. The action was non-stop.
The hosts, with a patched-up halfback partnership of second-choice scrum-half Maxime Lucu and fifth-choice fly-half Antoine Dupont swapping nine and 10 roles at will, according to mood, pitch position and vibes, weren’t really expected to be in the running. They were firmly second best in the set-piece.
And yet they took the lead with 16 minutes on the clock, when Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang dived over in the corner, after fine close-quarter passing between Dupont and Lucu.
They extended their lead seven minutes later, via Kalvin Gourgues’ head. It deflected Yoram Moefana’s pass 5m from South Africa’s line into the in-goal area, and Theo Attissogbe was the quickest to the ball.
South Africa narrowed the gap on the half-hour, Wessels crashing over at the back of a maul that was only going one way.
Almost from the restart, Mauvaka found a route through the guts of a ruck and offloaded to player of the matchDupont.
His grubber kick ahead into the path of Louis Bielle-Biarrey was almost as good in its own way as his glorious 50-22 minutes earlier. There was only ever going to be one winner of that footrace. It wasn’t even close.
Kurt-Lee Arendse thought he had scored on the stroke of halftime, ripping France’s defence apart in one simple strike move off a lineout moments after Lucu was sin-binned for a high tackle. But he was offside when the ball was thrown in.
The break — a welcome — offered only temporary respite.
Jasper Wiese’s clear-out of Gourgues four minutes after the restart was dangerous enough to earn him a card – upgraded to red on review.
Grandidier-Nkanang was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on 10 minutes in. And just-on replacement scrum-half Cobus Reinach dotted down at the base of the posts seconds later to close the gap to seven points again.
And Malcolm Marx – on since the 36th minute – closed the gap to two points as the Springboks’ power up front continued to hurt France. Always the set-piece. Arendse missed the conversion. The tension, already all the way up to 11, ratcheted up even higher.
France were hanging on by whatever was left of their finger-nails. They had long since scored their last point of the match; they were shipping penalties and knock-ons, giving ground. Replacement tighthead Regis Montagne was in the bin as South African power was telling as the minutes ticked down.
Yet, somehow, Les Bleus – on the shoulders of their overpowered but unbowed forwards – held on. Cros made the final thumping tackle that freed the ball for player of the match Dupont to leap on.
But every player in blue on the pitch in those closing minutes had dug deep and held one last, mighty late South African charge at bay.
Attissogbe; Grandidier-Nkanang, Gourgues (Gailleton 57’), Moefana, Bielle-Biarrey; Dupont (cap), Lucu; Alldritt (Capilla 50’), Woki, Cros; Guillard (Staniforth 52’), Verhaeghe (Ollivon 57’); Falatea (Montagne 50’), Mauvaka (Lamothe 50’), Gros (Neti 50’).
Willemse; Arendse, Kriel, de Allende, Hooker; Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Libbok 67’), Van den Berg (Reinach 50’); Wiese, P-S du Toit, Kolisi (De Villiers 57’)); Nortje, De Jager (Mostert 58’); T du Toit (Louw 36’), Wessels (Marx 36’), Steenekamp (Nche 36’).
Andrea Piardi (FIR).
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