How Antoine Dupont emerged from the chaos to inspire France to epic win over South Africa
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It had to be him. In the last moments of a chaotic, card-ridden contest in Paris, Antoine Dupont – France’s captain fantastique – burst out of the bodies and onto the ball, one final telling intervention on a night full of them. After Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s thunderous tackle had rattled a shaken Springboks, there was Dupont to pick up the pieces to cling on for a remarkable 21-19 victory.
The front-row loving French have a saying: “No scrum, no win”. It was an adage proved wrong in an epic toppling of the world champions. The hosts shipped nine penalties at the set-piece alone and saw replacement tighthead Regis Montagne sent to the sin bin for persistent collapsing offences. At one stage, it looked like Sipili Falatea may follow him as Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw repeatedly drove back and dismantled their overmatched French counterparts. Somehow he, and France, survived.
For so long, there were agonising echoes of the 2023 World Cup quarter-final for the hosts as the Springboks threatened a late heist. When Marx ploughed over at the back of a maul juggernaut with nine minutes to play to bring South Africa within two, they looked the favourites. But Manie Libbok – not for the first time – was errant from the tee. One last assault was launched, steady progress made. But then came Bielle-Biarrey, then Dupont. Game over.
The French captain had been a figure of outsized focus in this meeting of Nations Championship heavyweights. Injuries to Fabien Galthie’s first four fly-half choices left a vacancy, with le petit general ostensibly the man elected to fill it. He wore No 10, but played one door over; Maxime Lucu, his playmaking partner, instead took on the traditional fly half duties.
South Africa engaged in their own tomfoolery, too. Little more than an hour before kick off came news of a scrum-time switcheroo: Nche, Marx and Louw swapped on to the bench; Gerhard Steenekamp, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Thomas du Toit starting instead. The trio wore their substitutes’ shirts in a sign of the confusion – such a late switch would not be permitted at a World Cup or in the Six Nations, but was within regulation under Nations Championship rules.
Perhaps it riled a French side already with backs against the wall. With the help of a forward pack lended extra heft by the return of Gregory Alldritt, Dupont and Lucu combined to unsettle and unravel the Springboks defence, varying their play wonderfully in a first quarter where much went right.
Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang had already twice threatened to sear into the right corner by the time Dupont and Lucu were utilised in unison to find him; it proved third time lucky for the Bromley-born wing. Lady luck was shining on Les Bleus, too, the use of Kalvin Gourgues’ head inadvertent; Theo Attissogbe did not mind as he dotted down a friendly ricochet. By the time Bielle-Biarrey zoomed onto an inch-perfect grubber from Dupont, France were flying.
South Africa, oddly errant and error-prone, had struggled to find their fluency, bar one Wessels maul score. They thought they had another lineout try of a different kind when Kurt-Lee Arendse burst in on the stroke of half-time, but the television match official deemed him offside as the throw was made. Pernickety? Perhaps. France gleefully trotted down the tunnel all the same.
Soon after the restart, so did Jasper Wiese – though he wore a scowl. The No 8 has worked hard to improve the discipline that pockmarked his early career but his ruck challenge on Kalvin Gourgues was ugly, and rightly received a 20-minute red card. Having lost Lood de Jager to a sending off in this fixture 12 months ago, a 14-man Springboks would have to pull the game out of the fire again.
They so nearly managed it. First Cobus Reinach sharply sniped the ball beneath the posts after his forwards had done the heavy sledding soon after a yellow card to Grandidier-Nkanang, before Marx set up a grandstand finish. France were blown back repeatedly – both by the South African scrum, and referee Andrea Piardi’s whistle. It was a night for titans: Pieter-Steph du Toit did not deserve to be on the losing side, but it was Dupont, of course, who made sure he had the last word.
