“The Springboks came, saw and spoiled what (…) could have been France’s decisive moment in the Rugby World Cup,” says South African media News24. “South Africa dealt the final blow to France”, the organizing country and one of the favorites of this World Cup, adds the Argentinian daily La Nacion. Defeated 28-29 by the reigning world champions, the French are “on their knees”, continues the Australian site The Roar: “The heart of a nation has broken into a million pieces. »
The matches of October 14 and 15 confirmed that “there had never been a better Rugby World Cup quarter-final,” assures the Daily Maverick. And this Sunday’s clash in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) between the Blues and the Springboks, “the fourth and last of an epic weekend, was the best”, estimates the South African newspaper which is headquartered in Johannesburg.
“It was dramatic and thrilling, brave and cruel,” continues Maverick journalist Craig Ray, from the Stade de France. “The match remained undecided until the outcome”, France “gave everything and, just as easily, could have won”. But the Springboks had “an unwavering determination that is impossible to teach”, always managing to “find a solution against all odds”.
As La Nacion regrets, “neither the magic of Antoine Dupont nor the ferocity of his forwards” allowed the XV of France to gain the upper hand over their opponent, who relied “on the superb performance of his package from before, on the use of candles as an offensive weapon and on a dominant melee, with two arrows on the wings [Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse, authors of one essay each]”.
“France could and should have taken off”
“This part got off to a flying start, like an Olympic 100-meter final (which, by the way, will take place in this same stadium in ten months [for the 2024 Paris Olympics]),” recalls the Daily Maverick .
“After a breathtaking first period”, punctuated by three tries scored on each side and a yellow card addressed to South African second row Eben Etzebeth, the French returned to the locker room “with a deserved lead”, observes the Dublin newspaper The Irish Times. But “the Boks managed the match well enough in the absence of Etzebeth by not conceding any points during the first nine minutes of the second half,” analyzes News24. “It was at this precise moment that [they] won the match”, according to the Maverick, because “France could and should have taken off”.
“France will undoubtedly feel wronged by the decisions of Ben O’Keeffe”, the referee of the match, however tempers The Roar. At a post-match press conference, the captain of the Blues, Antoine Dupont, devastated by the defeat, himself questioned the New Zealander’s choices, declaring that he was “not sure that the arbitration was at the level of the issue”.
At the final whistle, “even the dizzying sound of the loudspeakers did not disguise the furious silence that enveloped the Stade de France,” reports La Nacion. Impassive, the French supporters remained as if petrified, standing in their places. As if they were waiting for something more to happen, incredulous at what was unfolding before their eyes,” describes Argentine journalist Alejo Miranda.
New Zealand and South Africa heading to the final
Paris and its periphery are not succeeding in the French XV in the World Cup, notes News24, since, before this Sunday, October 15, France had already lost two decisive matches of this competition on its soil. The first in the quarter-finals of the British World Cup in 1991, at the Parc des Princes, against the XV de la Rose (19-10). The second, still against England, in the semi-finals of the French World Cup in 2007, at the Stade de France (14-9).
Thanks to their victory, the South Africans join the English, who defeated Fiji in Marseille (30-24), in the semi-final, scheduled for October 21 in Saint-Denis. The other duel will pit the All Blacks against the Argentinian Pumas the day before, still at the Stade de France.
“Only a mediocre England team will represent Europe” in the final four of the competition, sighs The Irish Times, still stunned by Ireland’s defeat against New Zealand in the quarter-finals on October 14. For the centre-left daily, it seems inevitable that “rugby’s two most decorated and successful powers [three World Cups each]”, New Zealand and South Africa, will face each other in the final, on October 28.
“The World Cup finds itself without a host,” laments La Nacion. And while “the South Africans, present in large numbers, extended the festivities into the heart of Paris, the silence of the French was heard louder.”
