Antoine Dupont's frank admission after historic France win over Springboks

The first word out of France captain Antoine Dupont’s mouth following a breathless 21-19 win over South Africa at Stade de France was a succinct admission. “Tired,” he told the TF1 broadcast when asked how he was feeling after the Test.

The French captain was awarded Man of the Match for his efforts in the No.10 jersey in Paris, having shared the flyhalf duties with fellow halfback Maxime Lucu over 80 minutes of rugby that will be etched into rugby fans’ consciousness for years to come.

An all-time classic Test match took place beneath the song of 80,000 in Paris, with the Springboks cutting a 21-7 halftime deficit to 21-19 in the 71st minute, only for both teams to miss crucial shots at goal before the clock ticked into the red.

France were given three yellow cards and South Africa were given one yellow and one 20-minute red card, contributing to the ever-changing dynamics in the Test. Dupont’s initial thoughts expressed pride in how his team came through the adversity of the match.

“You know when you play those guys, they’re really intense for 80 minutes,” he said of South Africa. “It’s been really, really hard today with the yellow cards. It was really intense, and we kept the intensity all game, and that’s a huge thing for us today.”

The 29-year-old was thrown into the No.10 jersey after injuries to France’s four best playmakers, but ended up playing his usual halfback role on attack for much of the game as running mate Lucu filled in at first receiver. On defence, Dupont occupied the backfield, signalling that France had settled on a hybrid system to best utilise their halfbacks’ respective strengths.

“We tried to adapt,” he explained. “We had just one week, one day of training, so we tried, with Max (Lucu), to have the best combination possible in attack or defence, which I tried to change sometimes. It wasn’t easy, but when we’re doing our job, the entire team, it works.”

France hadn’t beaten South Africa in Paris for 21 years, and had just one win from the last 10 meetings between the powerhouse nations before Friday night. At the same venue that witnessed another all-time classic match between the two rivals in the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, Dupont thanked his fans for bringing their voice to the occasion.

“Obviously, when you beat the number one team in the world – they were number one for the last eight years, and it was not for nothing. The crowd was with us today; we felt that from La Marseillaise at the beginning of the game, and we felt them during the entire game, and it really helped us during the whole game.”

Meanwhile, Springboks assistant coach Felix Jones said it was a match of “fine margins”, pointing to a disallowed try in the final minute of the first half and how his side were unable to profit from their scrum dominance late in the second half as costly blows for his men.

“We knew it was going to be tight all the way through, and the intensity was sky-high just like the previous two or three meetings. Well done to France, they deserved it on the night,” he said.

“I think some really fine margins. We had a try disallowed for being a foot or two offside and then that period inside the 22 with multiple scrums where we felt we had a lot of dominance and couldn’t get over the line there, being forced to play away from one or two of those scrums.

“Then, on the flip side, France scored some brilliant tries – maybe a little bit of fortune with one coming off a player’s head. So, very fine margins.”

With the defeat, South Africa’s place atop the southern hemisphere pool in the Nations Championship is no longer safe, with New Zealand still unbeaten ahead of their final Tests against Wales and England. Jones says the team will have to wait and see how far Friday’s bonus-point loss takes them, with a date with Ireland next week before the inaugural finals weekend.

“We have to see what happens. It’s a little bit out of our hands in a certain respect if New Zealand win their remaining games. All we can do is control what we can, and we know we have a very tough opponent in Ireland, so we’ll have to regroup quickly and get back on it.”