South Africa underlined their status as the world’s leading side as they beat France 32-17 on Saturday in Paris despite lock\u00a0Lood\u00a0de Jager’s first-half red card.<\/p>\n
The Springboks played 40 minutes down a man after De Jager’s shoulder charge on Bleus full-back Thomas Ramos but\u00a0secured victory thanks to second-half tries from replacements Andre Esterhuizen and Grant Williams and starting fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.<\/p>\n
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Home winger Damian\u00a0Penaud\u00a0had scored\u00a0twice in the opening half an hour, overtaking legend Serge Blanco as his country’s leading try scorer, in a re-match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final won by the Boks on their way to a fourth Webb Ellis trophy.<\/p>\n
The sides are unlikely to face tougher outings next weekend in the Autumn Nations Series. France host Fiji. South Africa head to Italy.<\/p>\n
France head coach Fabien\u00a0Galthie\u00a0started\u00a0Nolann\u00a0Le\u00a0Garrec\u00a0at\u00a0scrum-half\u00a0with\u00a0superstar half-back Antoine Dupont sidelined until December with a serious knee injury.<\/p>\n
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Galthie\u00a0had kept just nine names from the matchday squad from the last time the sides met\u00a0and\u00a0described\u00a0South Africa’s 2025 vintage\u00a0“maybe the best team ever” earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
Rassie\u00a0Erasmus, who guided the Boks to their two most recent World Cup triumphs, named nine players in his starting 15 from the run-on side from that\u00a0quarter-final.<\/p>\n
South Africa’s two-time World Cup-winning captain Siya\u00a0Kolisi\u00a0ran out onto the Stade de France pitch alone for his 100th Test match to a cacophony of noise\u00a0under\u00a0a dramatic light show, which set the tone for\u00a0the nail-biter.<\/p>\n
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To the joy of the raucous home crowd, Les Bleus crossed first as\u00a0winger\u00a0Penaud\u00a0overtook Blanco with 39 touchdowns.<\/p>\n
Ramos slotted the conversion, after providing an assist with a cross-kick\u00a0under\u00a0pressure\u00a0and the hosts led 7-0 after four minutes.<\/p>\n
Feinberg-Mngomezulu replied by kickimg two penalties before missing another two with France ill-disciplined.<\/p>\n
Penaud\u00a0crossed again after 39 minutes, thanks to another Ramos assist,\u00a0before\u00a0Bok\u00a0scrum-half\u00a0Cobus Reinach sprinted over\u00a0with superb\u00a0solo effort.<\/p>\n
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– Madness –<\/p>\n
De Jager’s moment of madness came 20 seconds before the break, as he was\u00a0sent for\u00a0an early shower for a shoulder charge on the falling Ramos.<\/p>\n
Les Bleus were on top\u00a0early on in the\u00a0second half\u00a0with livewire winger Louis\u00a0Bielle-Biarrey\u00a0finding space out wide.<\/p>\n
To deal with the numerical inferiority, Erasmus replaced lock Eben\u00a0Etzebeth\u00a0with Andre Esterhuizen, who\u00a0played\u00a0an innovative hybrid\u00a0role,\u00a0alternating between the\u00a0back-row\u00a0and\u00a0centre.<\/p>\n
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The hosts dominated possession\u00a0but without much on the scoreboard to show for it. With 20 minutes to play, Ramos slotted a penalty to make it 17-13.<\/p>\n
The Springboks\u00a0then took control and the lead. Esterhuizen bundled over for a try from a lineout immediately after Bielle-Biarrey\u00a0was yellow carded for an intentional knock-on.<\/p>\n
Feinberg-Mngomezulu hit the post with his difficult conversion to ramp up the tension with a quarter of an hour to go and just a point\u00a0separating the sides, as was the case at full-time 20 months ago.<\/p>\n
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Erasmus’ side\u00a0began to dominate. They extended\u00a0their\u00a0lead to 25-17 as replacement scrum-half Grant Williams sniped through. Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotted the extras.<\/p>\n
Feinberg-Mngomezulu then took his tally to 17 points with a try and\u00a0conversion.<\/p>\n
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