Siya Kolisi and Rassie Erasmus' celebrations continued in style when the Springboks beat France 32-17 after a brilliant comeback during the final fifteen minutes of play.
The Springboks continued their dominance at the top of the World Rugby ranking with this commanding win, beating the Six Nations champions to claim the best team in the world title.
France “dominated” from the start of the match, and eventually, after four minutes of play, winger Damien Penaud controlled a kick-pass from Tomas Ramos to score France’s first try of the match. Tomas Ramos converted to extend France’s lead to 07-00.
Thereafter, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotted two penalties to cut France’s lead to 07-06.
France continued their “dominance”, and quick hands put the winger Damien Penaud in space to score in the corner. Ramos converted to extend France’s lead to 14-06 after twenty-five minutes of play in the first half.
The Springboks clawed their way back into the game, and Cobus Reinach sniped from behind a maul, toed the ball ahead, and scored the Springboks' first try. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted to cut France’s lead to just one point and five minutes still to play in the first half.
A late penalty to the Springboks was turned around following a permanent red card for a high tackle to Lood de Jager, reducing the Springboks to fourteen players for the rest of the match.
France led 14-13 at the halftime break.
Franced upped the pace of their attack in the second half and continued to use their big men up front to continue their onslaught on the Springboks’ tryline.
A mistake by Libbok was converted by Thomas Ramos to extend France’s lead to 17-13, and twenty-two minutes to play in the second half.
Following a yellow card to France, the Springboks started to dominate with their physical defence, earning penalty after penalty.
The Springboks declined several opportunities to convert penalties, and eventually Andre Esterhuizen scored the Springboks' second try to take an 18-17 lead for the first time in the match.
With ten minutes to play, Grant Williams scored the Springboks’ third try, sniping off the back of a ruck to score next to the poles. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu extended the Springboks’ lead to 25-17 with eight minutes still to play.
France continued to add pressure on themselves, with several penalties awarded to the Springboks. The Springboks spread the ball wide off a line-out, and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu cut France’s defence in two to score the Springboks’ fourth try. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted to extend the Springboks' lead to 32-17, which was also the final score.
Teams:
France: 15 Tomas Ramos, 14 Damien Penaud, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Gaël Fickou, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Nolann le Garrec, 8 Mickaël Guillard, 7 Paul Boudehent, 6 Anthony Jelonch, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Régis Montagne, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Baptiste Erdocio. Replacements: 16 Guillaume Cramont, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Dorian Aldegheri 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Hugo Auradou, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Maxime Lucu, 23 Nicolas Depoortère
Springboks: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Boan Venter. Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Ruan Nortje, 21 Andre Esterhuizen, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok.