France 26 South Africa 20: White laments slow start as France capitalise
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A mess of a match and a scrappy sort of performance from both sides. That was not how the South Africa coach, Jake White, wanted to see his Springboks end their rugby year.
If ever one team looked mentally fit for a game, this was it. The Springboks made so many errors in the opening half-hour that any chance of a meaningful, successful game after that was made impossible. South Africa resorted to playing catch-up rugby for the remainder of the match. It might have looked close on the scoreboard by the end, thanks to Jaque Fourie's 74th-minute try, but out on the field there was only one team running this game. The other one was running about in a completely disorganised fashion.
To succeed against the French you must play a tight, structured game in which you do not make the kind of howlers that White's men made inside the first nine minutes on Saturday night. By then, France were 12-0 up and ready to enjoy themselves. Game over.
White admitted: "The one area I am hugely disappointed about is the way we started... Suddenly, we were 15 points down and you don't come back from that."
The French were erratic, enigmatic. The home team led 15-3 at half-time and thereafter did enough to keep their noses in front. They accepted the win, but knew far higher standards will be required leading up to the 2007 World Cup here.
France: Tries Szarzewski, Michalak, Rougerie; Conversion Elissalde; Penalties Elissalde 2, Michalak.
South Africa: Tries B Botha, Fourie; Conversions Montgomery 2; Penalty Montgomery, Bosman.
France: T Castaignède; A Rougerie, F Fritz, Y Jauzion, C Heymans; F Michalak (Y Deliague, 74), J-B Elissalde; R Martin, J Bonnaire, Y Nyanga (T Lievremont, 74), J Thion (capt; G Lamboley, 14), L Nallet, P de Villiers, D Szarzewski (S Bruno, 54), O Milloud (S Marconnet, 51).
South Africa: P Montgomery; B Paulse, J Fourie, J de Villiers, B Habana; M Bosman (De Wet Barry, 74), M Claassens; J Cronje, J Smith, S Burger, V Matfield (A van den Berg, 70), B Botha (Rossouw, 67), C J van der Linde (G Botha, 77), J Smit (capt), O du Randt (E Andrews, 66).
Referee: S Young (Australia).
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments