France finally broke a 21-year drought at the Stade de France, securing a narrow 21-19 victory over world champions South Africa. Despite facing significant personnel shortages and struggling through an immense challenge in the scrum and at the lineout, the French side held on for the final 30 minutes to claim a landmark win in front of their home supporters. The French had been waiting 21 years to see their team beat the Springboks at the Stade de France. Only by two, 21-19, and hell, they were hanging on by the fingertips for the final 30 minutes, but they have, at last, beaten the best team in the world in their national stadium. Risen, fallen and risen again, in that time the team turned through successive generations and multiple iterations. Lost almost every scrum and which was missing a host of players, and after all that they did it with a team that had barely won a lineout. All of a sudden a French bench featuring three front-row replacements with 25 international caps between them was facing up to the prospect of coming on to pack down against the gnarliest front row in international rugby. Their next score did not have quite that kind of panache. The crowd crossed fingers and clasped hands, while their team fought to defend their seven-point lead, the French were clinging on now.
The match was defined by tactical maneuvering between head coaches Fabien Galthié and Rassie Erasmus, which Galthié had earlier dismissed as “comic-book stuff.” Despite pre-match assertions that Antoine Dupont would start at fly-half, the scrum-half wore the number 10 jersey but maintained his traditional role, with Maxime Lucu acting as the primary playmaker. The spectacle began with an elaborate pre-game show featuring fireworks, a massive drone display, and LED-clad dancers, setting the stage for a frantic contest. The pre-game was a full Cecil B DeMille production, with fireworks, flamethrowers, floodlights, a multicoloured drone show involving a three-storey, friday night at the Stade de France may just be the best show in sport. It was his understudy Maxime Lucu who switched positions to play first receiver. The game took its first turn when Lood de Jager was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle, after 10 minutes of frantic tussle. The pre-game was a full Cecil B DeMille production, with fireworks, flamethrowers, floodlights, a multicoloured drone show involving a three-storey cockerel that then reassembled itself into a beating red, blue and white heart before transforming into a vast tricolore along with a performance by 150 dancers carrying LEDs who performed to an, friday night at the Stade de France may just be the best show in sport. Too, erasmus had a trick up his sleeve. Scrum-half key in thriller full of twists and turns.
Early momentum swung when Lood de Jager received a yellow card for a high tackle. France capitalized immediately, with wing Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang scoring in the corner. Their second try came through a stroke of fortune; a pass from Yoram Moefana deflected off Kalvin Gourgues’ face, allowing Théo Attissogbe to touch down. Erasmus later remarked, “I’m not sure how you prepare a defence for a ball that bounces off a guy’s face.” Dupont lashed a 50-22 right up to the South African try-line and as France tried to spread the ball Yoram Moefana’s pass hit his teammate Kalvin Gourgues flush in the face and ricocheted away over the try-line, where Thé. Earsplitting choral rendition of Like A Prayer.
In a surprise move, Erasmus deployed his “bomb squad” replacements—Malcolm Marx, Ox Nché, and Wilco Louw—as early as the 35th minute to combat the French pack. Although South Africa found success with a rolling maul, Dupont responded by setting up Louis Bielle-Biarrey with a precise grubber kick to maintain a 14-point advantage. The game descended into chaos as cards were issued: Jasper Wiese received a red card for an illegal clearout, while Lucu and Grandidier-Nkanang were both yellow-carded for high tackles and intentional knock-ons, respectively. The French took advantage of the precious extra inches of space in the Springbok defence.
The Springboks pressed hard in the final stages, with a try from Kurt-Lee Arendse disallowed for offside before Cobus Reinach successfully burrowed over following a rolling maul. France’s defense remained under extreme pressure, leading to a yellow card for replacement Régis Montagne after the French scrum buckled near the goal line. South Africa eventually found another breakthrough when Marx grounded the ball following a final maul. It was around now that everything started to unravel.
With only seven minutes remaining, Manie Libbok had the opportunity to level the match but missed the pivotal conversion attempt. Reflecting on the result, Erasmus stated, “We weren’t just outplayed, we were out-thought. I’m not going to sit here and say I am going to take the positives – it feels shit.” Some fantastic freewheeling tries, long stretches of intense scrummaging, a clutch of hugely controversial decisions by both coaches and the refereeing team and, at the very end of it all, one crucial missed kick, a conversion attempt by Manie Libbok that would have tied the scores with seven minutes left to play, there were a fistful of cards. The match actually lived up to all this, astonishingly.
