Boks stunned by Les Bleus
France came from 13-3 behind to beat world champions South Africa 20-13 in a spirited performance in Toulouse on Friday night.
Last Updated: 14/11/09 12:51pm
France came from 13-3 behind to beat world champions South Africa 20-13 in a spirited performance in Toulouse on Friday night.
After being stunned by Leicester last week, the Springboks were determined to come out fighting but despite taking a big lead they slipped to a second defeat on the spin.
Les Bleus overturned a 13-3 deficit with Julien Dupuy kicking four penalties, his replacement Morgan Parra adding a fifth and Vincent Clerc completing a flowing move with a try.
Morne Steyn - one of two players sin-binned for South Africa - kicked a penalty, a drop-goal and converted John Smit's first-half try for the Tri-Nations champions.
South Africa recalled their big guns for the first Test of the tour, including prop Tendai 'The Beats' Mtawarira, despite some confusion over the Zimbabwe-born star's eligibility.
Home crowd
With a boisterous home crowd at the Stade Municipal, Steyn cancelled out Dupuy's opening penalty before putting the visitors in front with a drop-goal.
The Springboks' lead became 10 points when William Servat's wayward throw five metres from his own line cleared intended target Imanol Harinordoquy and fell to Smit, who dropped over the line for the game's opening try. Steyn converted.
France immediately responded, however, with Thierry Dusautoir, Maxime Mermoz and his midfield colleague Yann David punching holes in the Springbok defence before a neat offload from Francois Trinh-Duc allowed Clerc to score.
Bryan Habana was fortunate not to be disciplined for kicking Clerc on the ground after a penalty had been awarded for an infringement at the breakdown, before Steyn was then sent to the sin bin on the stroke of half-time for a deliberate trip on the French wing.
Dupuy, who struggled to find his range when kicking at goal, was successful with the resulting penalty to cut the deficit to two points before two further penalties put the hosts into a four-point lead.
Mtawarira was withdrawn nine minutes into the second half after failing to perform at his destructive best as the Springboks' renowned scrum struggled throughout.
Number eight Ryan Kankowski became the second South African to be sent to the sin bin after handling on the ground but Parra somehow hooked the resulting penalty wide from close range.
Parra did, however, stroke an easy chance through the posts to extend the advantage to seven and seal victory. South Africa meet Saracens on Tuesday before Tests with Italy and Ireland.
