France secured a 21-19 victory over the South African Springboks on Friday night at the Stade de France.
The win came against the two-time world champions in a closely contested match. French national team captain Antoine Dupont expressed pride in his squad's performance following the result.
“The atmosphere was crazy. Being able to share that with this stadium is incredible,” Dupont said during a post-match press conference. He said that the support from the crowd was palpable from the start of the national anthem.
“We, on the field, are proud to represent this French team with a remarkable state of mind,” Dupont told Le Figaro.
The French captain acknowledged that the performance was not without its flaws. He said that the team struggled with both individual and collective errors during various phases of the match.
“We made individual errors, and even collective ones at times, but they were compensated for by an incredible energy,” Dupont said. He attributed the final score to the players’ refusal to concede ground.
“There are attitudes that do not lie. There wasn’t a single guy who cheated or failed to track back. We didn’t give up on anything. We saw a great spirit,” Dupont added.
The match featured an unconventional partnership at the scrum-half and fly-half positions, with Dupont playing alongside Maxime Lucu. Dupont was less complimentary regarding the execution of their offensive strategies.
“We weren’t able to show the full range of what we had worked on in training,” Dupont said. He explained that the team had very few sustained offensive sequences during the game.
The captain said that while France scored quickly, they only maintained one long period of ball possession that resulted in points. He attributed the tactical limitations to a lack of preparation time.
“We tried to adapt with the single day of training we had, with some subtleties in attack and defense, trying to do our best for the team,” Dupont said. “It’s certain that it wasn’t perfect, but it at least allowed the team to win the match.”
| Team | Points Scored |
|---|---|
| France | 21 |
| South Africa | 19 |
