France weathered a second-half onslaught from South Africa to claim a famous 21-19 Nations Championship victory over the world champions at a frenzied Stade de France.
Converted tries from Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, Theo Attissogbe and Louis Bielle-Biarrey put Les Bleus 21-7 ahead at the break, with Jan-Hendrik Wessels’ scoring for South Africa.
Despite Jasper Wiese being given a 20-minute red card for a dangerous tackle at the beginning of the second half, the Springboks mounted an impressive fightback.
Cobus Reinach touched down after 50 minutes to leave South Africa trailing by just seven points heading into the final half hour and France resisted wave after wave of spirited attack.
When replacement prop Regis Montagne was sent to the sin bin with 10 minutes to go, South Africa, back up to 15, looked to have broken the home side’s resistance when Malcolm Marx went over from a driving maul.
But while Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu had earlier split the posts from South Africa’s earlier two tries, replacement fly-half Manie Libbok made a hash of his conversion attempt.
That kept France ahead and even though South Africa continued to hem their opponents into their own half in the closing stages, the Six Nations holders valiantly held on to edge the thriller.
South Africa had won nine of the previous 10 meetings between the sides, including a 29-28 victory at the 2023 World Cup quarter-finals, while this was France’s first triumph over Rassie Erasmus’ side in Paris since 2005.