France beat South Africa 21-19 at the Stade de France in a nail-biting clash between the Rugby Nations Championship Northern and Southern Hemisphere leaders on Friday night.
It was a game of two halves in Saint-Denis. France dominated the first half to go into the break 21-7 up, with a sensational try from Louis Bielle-Biarrey the pick of the bunch. With the last try of the first half, he got on the end of a perfectly-weighted Antoine Dupont kick into space which stayed in play near the left corner, allowing the winger to finish off.
Earlier, tries from Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang and Théo Attissogbe had been followed by a Jan-Hendrik Wessels try off a lineout maul. After Bielle-Biarrey's try, Kurt-Lee Arendse saw one disallowed for offside on the stroke of half-time.
South Africa controlled the second half, with Cobus Reinach and Malcolm Marx scoring tries, but a late missed conversion from Manie Libbok saw a spurned opportunity to go level. Les Bleus held out in the last few minutes despite the Boks' scrum dominance.
Friday's calash was the second-last regular season Nations Championship game for both sides. France extended their lead over England and Ireland to six points. Both sides have a game in hand. South Africa got a bonus point to go one point clear of New Zealand for the time being, but all of a sudden, control is in the All Blacks' hands.
Dave Rennie's side will face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, before finishing their regular season at Twickenham against England on Nov. 21 -- the same day which will see the Springboks finish theirs against Ireland in Dublin.
The top Northern and Southern Hemisphere sides will contest the final on Nov. 29.