4th QF France v South Africa - Stade de France, Saint Denis

First topic message reminder :

France: 1. Baille, 2. Mauvaka, 3. Atonio, 4. Woki, 5. Flament, 6. Jelonch, 7. Ollivon, 8. Alldritt, 9. Dupont (cap), 10. Jalibert, 11. Bielle-Biarrey, 12. Danty, 13. Fickou, 14. Penaud, 15. Ramos.

Replacements: 16. Bourgarit, 17. Wardi, 18. Aldegheri, 19. Taofifenua, 20. Cros, 21. Macalou, 22. Lucu, 23. Moefana.

South Africa: Willemse; Arendse, Kriel, De Allende, Kolbe; Libbok, Reinach; Kitshoff, Mbonambi, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Mostert, Kolisi (capt), Du Toit, Vermeulen.

Replacements: Fourie, Nche, Koch, Snyman, Smith, De Klerk, Pollard, Le Roux.

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe TMO: Brendon Pickerill

Assistant referees: Paul Williams (assistant), James Doleman (assistant)

mikey_dragon wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:NH found wanting?  Ireland loses by a hair and France by less than that?  Looks like a great bunch of games to me.  

I’m not sure if Ireland or France will be this good in 4 years time, arguably both had their best teams in history,  then of course there was Wales’ embarrassing loss against Argentina.

No idea about Ireland or SA but I understand the French age group sides are good, plus the French are a young squad overall Won't have home 'adcantage' though.

As a Bok supporter this was a tought and tense match to watch, the first half it looked like the score might be 50-50 after eighty minutes. Nobody seemed to control the match and everybody seemed to be able to find space.

I thought Dupont was brilliant in the first half, he found space and players onto every little kick he made.

The period of Etzebeths yellow was frantic Bok defence and scrambling to keep France out.

I think if France were a bit more composed and structured instead of trying to play organised chaos they might well have scored.

But then came the subs abd slowly you could feel the momentum shifting towards the Boks, those last seven minutes was berve wrecking stuff.

I always thought it would be close, and in a match where teams take turns to score and counter score, it is usually the team that scores last that gets the win.

All 46 players did their part, I can't think of a poor performance by anyone.

De Allende, Kriel and Kolbe was something special tonight.

mikey_dragon wrote:

BigGee wrote:Why was this a quarter final?

Good question. Apparently it was Wales’ fault.

Or both Wales and England's fault for being better than Ireland and France 3 years ago

France will surely win the WC one day with their resources, but they will surely see this as one that got away.

demosthenes wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:NH found wanting?  Ireland loses by a hair and France by less than that?  Looks like a great bunch of games to me.  

I’m not sure if Ireland or France will be this good in 4 years time, arguably both had their best teams in history,  then of course there was Wales’ embarrassing loss against Argentina.

No idea about Ireland or SA but I understand the French age group sides are good, plus the French are a young squad overall   Won't have home 'adcantage' though.

Yes, I think France will certainly come on strong for 2027. Ireland...yeah this might have been their best chance, and they may have to wait a little while for another.

What a match ! Feel for France : so close but so far. But you'd have to say they had their chance to win that ; probably should have ? SA are a tough nut to crack ... sucked up all the pressure and found a way to win

Don't think anyone can complain about those QFs . No blow outs , tension right to the end in all of them . What more could we ask ?

Is it me, or was that the one or possibly two of the worst refereeing performances of the RWC to date; O'Keefe for France-SA,  Raynal England - Fiji. Complete opposites of what is allowable. Raynal, any holding onto the ball for just a second, ping penalty. O'Keeffe hang on to it until the support clears out the jackler, thats fine. Raynal, if your hands touch the floor, leave the ball alone (most of the time), O'Keeffe, no, I have no problems with you lying on the floor having a wrestle for the ball, or having a rest over your team mates trying to wrestle the ball away. Hands in the ruck, well they are sort of like feet aren't they.

I thought it was amusing that Raynel at a reset, warned the Fiji 9. not to feed instead of giving a free kick and then he does it again and nothing happens.

Very glad common sense prevailed with the yellow card, no intent and he did his best to get low. A red would have spoilt the match.

Papers this morning reporting that Dupont was critiscing the ref, 'he was not up to the standard required for a match of this magnitude'

Maybe it was just a heat of the moment thing that he might like to reflect upon. Other than the turnover penalty from Kwagga Smith, which should probably have gone the other way, the ref dud not seem to be to much wrong and I am sure there were some marginal calls that went France way as well.

Galthie seemed a bit more philosophical about it, saying thst it is ok to lose like that.

He is of course right, but the profound dissapointment will surely linger.

Predident Macron apparently spent some time with the team in the changing room after the match to try and console them.

BigGee wrote:Papers this morning reporting that Dupont was critiscing the ref, 'he was not up to the standard required for a match of this magnitude'

Maybe it was just a heat of the moment thing that he might like to reflect upon. Other than the turnover penalty from Kwagga Smith, which should probably have gone the other way, the ref dud not seem to be to much wrong and I am sure there were some marginal calls that went France way as well.

Galthie seemed a bit more philosophical about it, saying thst it is ok to lose like that.

He is of course right, but the profound dissapointment will surely linger.

Predident Macron apparently spent some time with the team in the changing room after the match to try and console them.

He's right - top quality match between two teams that were so close in ability. SA were amazing in defence in the second half to take away the space France wanted to get their backs in to.

Two absolute cracking semi-finals from the 4 teams that looked to have a chance to win the title, with the SH teams JUST having the edge on the scoreboard at the end of each.

How many Bok players were sent for HIA , I didnt see any footage of any incidents on my broadcasts I was watching. Did the footage suddenly disappear like in 2022

protea438 wrote:How many Bok players were sent for HIA , I didnt see any footage of any incidents on my broadcasts I was watching. Did the footage suddenly disappear like in 2022

I can only remember Du Toit but there was no head contact as such - just whiplash I think. (Penaud tried to tackle him but kind of bounced off)

lostinwales wrote:

protea438 wrote:How many Bok players were sent for HIA , I didnt see any footage of any incidents on my broadcasts I was watching. Did the footage suddenly disappear like in 2022

I can only remember Du Toit but there was no head contact as such - just whiplash I think. (Penaud tried to tackle him but kind of bounced off)

I think I also heard it said (ref's mike) the starting hooker went off for an HIA, but as he didn't return and was going to be replaced anyway it wasn't anything to get hung up on.