The Boks lost 21-19 after trailing 21-7 at halftime. They fought their way back into the match with two tries after the break, one of which was converted, which left them two points behind on the scoreboard with minutes to play, but they eventually had to settle for the defeat. Erasmus admitted they let some point-scoring opportunities slide.

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi said the team could have been better in many areas. Photo: Facebook/Springboks

“France played really well, and we didn’t, so I can’t find a lot of excuses. They took their opportunities when they got them, and we didn’t. It’s probably a cliché, but I definitely think we had enough opportunities and there were simple tries we could have scored with one last pass, and perhaps one or two wrong decisions, such as not kicking for the corner and rather expecting the referee to give four penalties in a row.

“In front of a crowd like this you might feel you have dominance, but it’s just human not to keep on penalising the home team if they’ve already got a card or two. But in the end, it comes down to the fact that they played well, and we didn’t.” 

The yellow card to Lood de Jager, for a dangerous tackle, and Jasper Wiese’s 20-minute red card for a dangerous clean were also costly. “I don’t think any of it was intentional, but I agree it should have been a card.

“We can’t moan about that, but I didn’t think anybody flew in to try and hurt somebody. When we got the red card, we were a little under the pump.”

Kolisi reiterated Erasmus’ sentiments. “Early in the first half we created opportunities in the wide channels that we didn’t take, and when they created chances, they took them straight away. So, we could have been better in many areas.

“However, the effort and hard work were there from our team, and they fought till the end. But if you create so many opportunities and don’t take them against a team like this, you’re not going to get the win. We know what we need to fix, and hopefully we will play better next week.” 

The Springboks will make the journey from France to Ireland on Saturday for their third Nations Championship match in Dublin.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg