South Africa overcomes red card and halftime deficit to beat France 32-17 at Stade de France

PARIS (AP) — World champion South Africa overcame a red card and a halftime deficit to beat France 32-17 and hand Les Tricolores yet another stinging defeat.

The sides met for the first time since South Africa knocked host France out of the 2023 World Cup 29-28 despite France being in control in the first half.

Déjà-vu?

This time France was up 14-13 at halftime thanks to two tries from right winger Damian Penaud’s two tries.

The Six Nations champion could even look forward to playing the entire second half against 14 players after Springbock lock Lood De Jager was shown a red card for a dangerous challenge on France fullback Thomas Ramos.

Yet it was still not enough for Les Tricolores.

After France failed to take advantage of several attacking positions, the teams were at 14-a-side when a deliberate knock-on from prolific left winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey saw him given a 10-minute sin bin.

The Springboks took an attacking lineout and, following a rolling maul, André Esterhuizen bundled over for a try. Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu missed the extras but replacement scrumhalf Grant Williams blindsided the defense and looped around the right for a converted score to crush Fabien Galthié’s side.

“We need to move on. We need to stop dwelling on what happened two years ago (and) believe in our system,” Ramos said. “We’re very disappointed tonight. We came up against a stronger team, but it’s important to build team spirit in matches like these.”

Penaud earlier became France’s all-time leading try scorer with 39 following an early converted score from Ramos’ smart chip kick, but French indiscipline gave South Africa a string of penalties.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu made the first two count but missed the next two. Penaud punished the Springboks with another try in the right corner after Ramos set him up again following a quick skip pass from flyhalf Romain Ntamack.

Sloppy defending allowed scrumhalf Cobus Reinach space to launch a solo break from near midfield, and gather his chip ahead for a converted score.

De Jager, who went off early in the first half as part of concussion protocol then came back on, was shown red by referee Angus Gardner following a TMO review moments before the break for a shoulder-to-head charge on Ramos.

Captain Siya Kolisi became the ninth Springbok to play 100 tests and came off after the interval.

But Rugby Championship winner South Africa held firm as France failed to take advantage of the extra player until Ramos landed a penalty just before the hour mark.

It wasn’t enough and the French then faded fast.

At the end, Kolisi was cheering his teammates on from the touchline as they launched a superb comeback.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby