They are irresistible. If everything was not perfect, the Blues bent the South African world champions (30-26), Saturday, November 12 in Marseille, after a match of rare harshness. The two tries of Cyril Baille (21st) and Sipili Falatea (74th) allowed the French to extend their series to twelve successes in a row. Back on the good and bad points of this meeting.
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Accustomed to harassing, cornering their opponents until they gave in, the South Africans were caught up in their own game in a stifling end to the match. The physical challenge imposed by the Blues, made of flush charges, has made the fronts bend, however “very tough”, said Anthony Jelonch at the end of the match. A carried ball first forced Deon Fourie to commit a fault, which was justly sanctioned with a yellow card (70th), before Sipili Falatea made it close (74th). Without ever falling into euphoria, the Blues then mastered their emotions – despite a failure by Thomas Ramos on foot – to maintain their advantage, in a configuration similar to the first test won against the Australians (30-29 last Saturday).
Handre Pollard on the flank, the Springboks were, at first sight, devoid of professional scorers. The will-o’-the-wisp Cheslin Kolbe, anything but a specialist, stuck to it. With guts, the Toulon winger rolled up a superb strike from 45 meters in a corner to gain confidence. Two more kicks followed, before Faf de Klerk took over after Kolbe came off. A brilliantly successful interim: from a corner transformation then a distant penalty in the middle, he contributed to the return of his people in the second act… before being himself relieved by Damian Willemse, who made his only attempt.
With three blocks in the first minutes, the French touch frustrated the South African entry line-up. But it was above all on their own throws that the Blues shone in the air, with the exception of a misplaced touch (70th) on eleven throws. This phase of the game was at the origin of the two blue tries. A first-hand attack brought the French closer to the line, until Baille’s try (21st).
The release, brought by another mainstay, Falatea, also came from a combination after a throw from Mauvaka, not without a good relay from Lucu. Add to it Deon Fourie’s yellow provoked on a carried ball, and you have one of the bases of this success. A constant, since since November 2021, 53% of French tries have taken place after a touch.
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Penalized 12 times, the Blues fell back into mistakes that we thought were erased during the last Six Nations Tournament. This indiscipline, particularly observed on South African rucks and balls, kept the Springboks in the game. It was especially exacerbated by the red card logically received by Antoine Dupont, for a charge on Cheslin Kolbe then in the air and landed on the head (48th). But the Blues were able to erase this chronic problem at the most opportune moment: on the last South African action, the scratching of Yoram Moefana, legal, made the Vélodrome exult.
Before Dupont, the South African flanker Pieter-Steph Du Toit was guilty of a very dangerous clearance in the 11th minute. At the entrance of the French 40 meters, the number 7 intervened in a ruck to facilitate the release of the ball. But his shoulder, in an uncontrolled momentum, directly hit the head of Jonathan Danty, who was participating in this open scrum. The shock, very violent but not perceived by Waynes Barnes at first glance, logically led to the expulsion of Du Toit. As for the center of La Rochelle, nailed to the ground for long seconds, he suffered a fracture of the orbital floor and could not finish the match.
Symbol of a particularly rough first act, Danty was not the only player to leave his partners prematurely. Like him, Uini Atonio and Thibaud Flament on the French side, Bongi Mbonambi and Cheslin Kolbe on the Springboks side followed a concussion protocol. The distressing situation even turned to caricature, when a queue was improvised in the corridors of the Vélodrome to answer questions from neurologists at the end of the first act. Above all, the scene reflected the harshness of a game marked by constant combat.