Antoine Dupont leads France to first win over Springboks in Paris for 21 years

France ended a 21-year wait for a victory over South Africa at the Stade de France on Friday night, surviving a second-half Springbok onslaught to claim a dramatic 21-19 Nations Championship victory in Paris.

Fabien Galthie’s side were magnificent for long stretches of a breathless, bruising contest and fully deserved their 21-7 half-time lead, only to spend much of the second period desperately clinging on as the world champions threatened a remarkable comeback.

With injuries forcing Antoine Dupont into the No.10 jersey, France’s captain delivered a masterclass, pulling the strings behind a first-half display that left the Springboks reeling.

The visitors suffered an early setback when Lood de Jager was yellow-carded after a thunderous hit on Maxime Lucu, and France quickly made their numerical advantage count.

Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang opened the scoring in the 14th minute, finishing sharply in the corner after initially being denied by some ferocious Bok defence. Lucu converted for a 7-0 lead before France struck again moments later.

After an Antoine Dupont 50:22 created the platform, Theo Attissogbe reacted quickest when a loose ball cannoned off the unfortunate Kalvin Gourgues, the full-back touching down for a try that owed as much to opportunism as attacking brilliance.

South Africa responded through Jan-Hendrik Wessels and a Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu conversion to cut the deficit to 14-7, but France were playing some of their best rugby of the campaign.

The third French try was easily the pick of the bunch. Peato Mauvaka, on after a late pre-match reshuffle, burst through the middle before Dupont produced a perfectly weighted grubber kick for Louis Bielle-Biarrey to collect and finish in the corner. Lucu’s excellent touchline conversion stretched the lead to 21-7.

The hosts then survived a major scare just before the interval when Kurt-Lee Arendse raced away following a lineout mishap, only for the TMO to intervene and chalk the score off.

If the first half belonged to France, the second was almost entirely South Africa’s.

Jasper Wiese received a red card shortly after the restart, but France seemed to lose their composure. Grandidier-Nkanang was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on and a costly Lucu penalty miss on 66 minutes left the door ajar.

The Springboks seized their chance. Cobus Reinach struck first before Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s conversion reduced the gap to seven points. France were further hampered when Regis Montagne saw yellow and Malcolm Marx then powered over from a familiar South African maul on 71 minutes, making it a two-point game heading into a frantic finale.

France somehow held firm through the closing stages, with Francois Cros producing a crucial late tackle and the world’s best player Dupont once again leading from the front to record a rare victory over the Boks.

France: 15 Théo Attissogbe, 14 Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, 13 Kalvin Gourgues, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Antoine Dupont (captain), 9 Maxime Lucu, 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Cameron Woki, 6 François Cros, 5 Mickaël Guillard, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 3 Sipili Falatea, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros.

Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Régis Montagne, 19 Charles Ollivon, 20 Tom Staniforth, 21 Esteban Capilla, 22 Axel Desperes, 23 Emilien Gailleton.

South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels 1 Gerhard Steenekamp

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)