A try just after the hour mark by centre Jesse Kriel saw the Springboks end their five-match winless streak with a hard-fought 18-17 victory over France on Saturday night.
In front of a capacity crowd at the Stade de France in Paris, Allister Coetzee’s team managed to get back into the winners’ circle despite the misfiring boot of flyhalf Handré Pollard, who slotted just two out of six attempts at goal.
The South Africans were guilty once again of kicking away front-foot possession, with Pollard and halfback partner Ross Cronjé guilty of booting the ball too far downfield, while the Boks’ execution and decision-making let them down on the attack.
They started well enough as they showed much greater conviction when carrying the ball, and the more positive approach paid dividends in the eighth minute.
Courtnall Skosan started the attack, and after a couple of powerful runs by Malcolm Marx and Siya Kolisi, wing Dillyn Leyds showed good skill to dummy and then reach over to dot down.
Pollard extended the lead to 8-0 with a penalty in the 18th minute, and it looked like the Boks were well on their way to a comfortable victory.
But the French found their feet in the second quarter, with lively wing Teddy Thomas stretching the Bok defence with his stepping skills.
Eventually, flyhalf Anthony Belleau burst through a flimsy tackle from Jesse Kriel to bring the French back into the game at 8-7.
Pollard, though, lost his goal-kicking radar, missing penalties either side of halftime, while Belleau put the hosts into the lead at 10-8 in the 47th minute.
The Bok No 10 missed his fourth goal-kick of the night in the 55th minute, and it nearly cost them a victory on the night.
But then French scrumhalf substitute Baptiste Serin was yellow-carded for an early tackle on Marx following a line-break by Kriel, and that relieved the pressure somewhat for the South Africans.
Pollard managed to get a three-pointer that put the Boks 11-10 up, and the one-man advantage counted when captain Eben Etzebeth got the ball away to Kriel to dot down with 18 minutes left.
There was some controversy after it appeared as if Etzebeth may have lost the ball forward in the act of passing to Kriel, but the TMO and referee Nigel Owens ruled that the French defender had knocked the ball out of Etzebeth’s hands and that the ball had gone sideways to Kriel.
There were a nervous last few minutes when Serin scored with just three minutes to go to take the score to 18-17, but the Boks held out for a much-needed victory.
Scorers: France 17 (7): Tries: Anthony Belleau, Baptiste Serin. Conversions: Belleau (2). Penalty: Belleau
Springboks 18 (8): Tries: Dillyn Leyds, Jessie Kriel. Conversion: Handré Pollard. Penalties: Pollard (2) – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Herman Gibb
