Springboks’ late show stuns France: Four takeaways

The Springboks celebrated captain Siya Kolisi’s 100^th appearance with a brilliant smash and grab 32-17 win over France, despite a contentious red card that saw them play the second half with 14-men, which they won on the scorecard 19-3.

Kolisi showed the amazing inspirational figure that he is by being the player replaced at halftime due to the red to Lood de Jager, and he was still the loudest player on the side of the field, roaring his team on during their incredible comeback.

Here are four takeaways from an amazing Springbok win.

Action packed first half

An incredibly relentless first 20 minutes was battled out. France got off to a flyer, wing Damian Penaud scoring after a superb switch and chip from flyhalf Thomas Ramos, who slotted the conversion.

Boks flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu then slotted two long range penalties, but another two long range shots from tricky angles were missed, one pulled and one pushed, leaving France with a 7-6 lead after the first quarter.

The hosts extended their lead in the 26^th minute, attacking from a lineout in the visitors 22m area, swinging the ball wide where the pass got to Penaud in space and he put on the afterburners to go over for his second in the corner.

The Boks hit back in the 32^nd minute with a brilliant solo try from scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, who sniped off the back of a ruck, chipped over Ramos and picked up to score, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotting the conversion which made it 14-13 at the break.

Scrum dominance

If there was a fear that Ox Nche was going to be sorely missed, it was dispelled early as the Boks’ trademark power scrum got motoring early on. They showed clear dominance in their first two scrums, without getting the penalty decision.

But it was on France’s first scrum that the Boks powered into action, with Boan Venter, who was Nche’s starting replacement, getting a monster hit, backed up by Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit, as they were awarded the penalty.

Gerhard Steenekamp was introduced early, after 31 minutes, which was a surprise after Venter’s impressive showing, but secured a penalty in his second scrum to continue the Boks’ dominance.

Wilco Louw was on in the 47^th minute, as the Boks powered on with a few more penalties, while Marx stayed on for an extended period, only going off in the 77^th minute for Johan Grobbelaar, who popped on for the final few minutes with the game won.

Lood red card

A massive moment in the match came right at the end of the first half that had a negative impact for the Springboks, as they had to play the rest of the game with 14-men.

Lock Lood de Jager was handed a red card for a reckless shoulder to the head in a tackle on Thomas Ramos, but there were plenty of moving parts in a contentious call. Instead of sending it to the bunker to be reviewed, which would have possibly led to a 20-minute red, the ref on the field, Angus Gardner, decided to hand out a permanent red.

The problem was that Ramos had fallen onto his knees when De Jager’s tackle was made.

In the end it was the tucked shoulder that cost De Jager, but the fact that the player was on his knees, and the speed of the play seemed to indicate it was a very harsh call.

It was also a double blow for the Boks as they had initially been handed a penalty, which Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu probably would have kicked to give them the lead at the break.

Unlucky Kolisi and smash and grab second half

Inspirational Springbok captain Siya Kolisi was an unlucky casualty of the De Jager red card and only featured for 40 minutes on his 100^th Test. It was a landmark game as he became just the ninth Bok centurion in their history, and he produced a decent first half.

But with red reducing them to 14-men, at the start of the second half he didn’t return, with Ruan Nortje instead coming up to shore up the second row. Despite playing with a man less it was then a smash and grab second half showing from the Boks.

France started with complete dominance in the opening 15 minutes, making multiple 22m entries, but were repelled by some brilliant defence. They extended their lead with a Ramos penalty in the 58^th minute.

But the Boks then stunned the home crowd with an unbelievable final quarter, scoring three tries to power away to an amazing 15-point win. They were aided by a deliberate knock on from wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey, who was yellow carded, scoring two tries while he was off, a maul try to Andre Esterhuizen and a sniping score to replacement scrumhalf Grant Williams.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu then capped off the showing with a typically brilliant score.