One night in Paris: 8 snapshots from one of the most famous wins in Bok history

Sometimes in sport it’s difficult to get your head around what you’ve just witnessed. The Springbok win against France on Saturday night felt a bit like that — a careening emotional rollercoaster ride of a Test match moving too fast to truly grasp what was happening and what it meant.

For the Boks to give the highly motivated Six Nations champions a 32-17 beating like that, despite playing away from home and with only 14 men for half the match…? It’s a lot to process and there was a lot going on at the Stade de France.

Perhaps let’s take a step back, press pause and consider eight freeze-frame moments and what they reveal about this extraordinary Springbok performance.

Pic 1, The anthems: France are in their happy place

A magnificent unaccompanied La Marseillaise rolls around the Stade de France. The crowd is a sell-out and baying for Bok blood after the trauma of seeing France dumped out of the 2023 Rugby World Cup on this very ground, two years ago. This is Les Bleus’ happy place. France is a team that prefers not to travel or tour, not their first XV anyway. Not for France the discomfort and unpredictability of life on the road, confronting the unknown and playing tough opposition in unfamiliar conditions on the other side of the world. No, France know what they know. Seldom will they tour with any serious intent, preferring instead to play at home with as many odds stacked in their favour as possible. So here we are – France vs South Africa – but the question remains: who has pitched up psychologically?

Pic 2, 30th minute: Les Bleus have come out swinging

Not for nothing are France champions of the northern hemisphere, and not for nothing is winger Damian Penaud the highest try-scorer in French rugby history, with two well-taken scores giving him 40 tries in 57 Tests, lifting him above the great Serge Blanco in the try-scoring stakes. Two penalties from flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu have kept the Boks in the contest, but the French are landing blows and some of the Boks are on the ropes. Rookie prop Boan Venter is unceremoniously yanked but in this picture it is the brotherly arm that Duane Vermeulen drapes around the disconsolate youngster as he leaves the field that feels significant. The South Africans seem emotionally connected.

Pic 3, 38th minute: It’s going to be a red, but it’s not a red

Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach has kept the French honest all day and a trademark chip-and-chase try has pulled the Boks back to within a point. But a harsh decision from officialdom and a straight red card for lock Lood de Jager is a heavy blow and the Boks are on the canvas. As Mike Tyson used to say, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

Both teams have been here before, namely Marseilles in 2022 when an early red for Pieter-Steph du Toit meant the Boks played most of that game with 14 men. But who took more heart from that Test: France, who held on to win 30-26, or South Africa, who almost delivered a seismic upset?

Pic 4, 41st minute: Rassie’s plan, Part 1

But if anyone has a plan for when you get punched in the face, it’s Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus. Cut to a morose-looking Siya Kolisi sitting on the bench, the Springbok captain being sacrificed in his 100th Test match so that Ruan Nortje can shore up the Bok lock stocks in the absence of De Jager. It is a brutal demonstration of the Springbok ethos. It’s not about the coach’s 50th Test match in charge, nor the captain’s 100th. It’s not about the individual. It’s about the team. And the team is about the country. Always sounds cheesy to outsiders, but it’s true. On the field, the Boks are still taking shots but are hanging in there. The score remains 14-13 to France.

Pic 5, 47th minute: Rassie’s plan, Part 2

On trundle monster forwards Wilco Louw and RG Snyman. More importantly, hybrid centre-flanker Andre Esterhuizen makes an appearance, as does Manie Libbok at flyhalf. Project Esterhuizen has been more than a year in the making and has been designed exactly for such a scenario: pack down with the forwards on attack or line up with the backs on defence. Feinberg-Mngomezulu moves to fullback which means the Boks get to keep two playmaker skillsets on the pitch, instead of swapping one out for the other.

Kolisi has emerged from his funk and joined Damian de Allende, who’s just made way for Esterhuizen, sitting on a cooler box on the sidelines. Kolisi’s body language has been transformed by the example De Allende has set: the pitch-side Boks are now all fully engaged and committed.

Pic 6, 62nd minute: the fear in Bielle-Biarrey’s eyes

The electric and lethally effective French winger has attempted a hopeless intercept and knocked on. While ref Angus Gardner weighs up the sanction, you can see the fear in Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s eyes. His team have had a one-man advantage for a quarter of the game now, and have scored precisely three more points to lead 17-13. What will happen if he’s yellow-carded and the playing field is levelled at 14 men apiece, albeit for just 10 minutes? Despite being on the back foot, the Boks have been playing with a ferocity and accuracy that does not bode well for any French mis-step. It’s a yellow, and two minutes later we have the answer: Esterhuizen crashes over for a textbook mauling try. South Africa lead 18-17.

Pic 7, 65th minute: Turn down the points and kick for the corner

More forward dominance wins the Boks a scrum penalty. The conservative option would be to kick at goal and take the three points. But the Boks kick for the corner … it’s brave but also the most sensible decision. At worst, the Boks will be playing in the right part of the field, laying siege to the French tryline; at best, they’ll hope for a seven-pointer, which would put them two scores clear when the French are restored to 15 men with seven minutes to play. The Bok lineout wins another penalty, so they go to the line again. Scrumhalf Grant Williams breaks from the next maul and shimmies through under the posts. South Africa lead 25-17.

Pic 8: The coup de grâce

Take your pick of the dying minutes: the game is done and the crowd is dead. Feinberg-Mngomezulu rubs salt into French wounds with another converted try, and Kolisi is paraded around the Stade de France on the shoulders of Snyman and Eben Etzebeth. It’s not a coronation, it’s a vindication. Under the most severe pressure, Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks have succeeded in keeping the main thing the main thing. All that’s missing is the Cranberries’ Zombie blaring from the stadium sound system, overlaid by the Springbok fans’ version thereof: Rassie, Rassie. For that, we’ll have to wait until November 22 at the Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin 4.