France vs South Africa LIVE rugby: Result and reaction as Les Bleus snatch thrilling win from remarkable Test
France 30-26 South Africa: Les Bleus snatched victory as both teams had a man sent off in an incredible Test match
France extended their impressive winning run to 12 games as they tamed South Africa 30-26 at the Stade Velodrome after a nail-biting contest.
Les Bleus had scrum-half Antoine Dupont sent off in the second half after the world champions were also reduced to 14 men following Pieter-Steph du Toit’s early exclusion.
But a strong finish, with a late try by forward Sipili Falatea and a last-gasp penalty by Thomas Ramos, earned Fabien Galthie’s side another win a week after they edged out Australia 30-29 in Paris.
South Africa were always close thanks to penalties by Cheslin Kolbe, as well as tries from Siya Kolisi and Kurt-Lee Arendse, but France were just a cut above, less than a year before they host the World Cup.
Relive all the action from France vs South Africa with our live blog below:
Wales 0-0 Argentina, 6 mins
Anscombe caught offside, so Argentina into the Welsh half for the first time as the clock passes five minutes. Lineout safely secured and a decent drive sets them up.
Fly-half Carreras on the wraparound and he pops to Cruz Mallia running a great line to enter the 22. Faletau pinged for not rolling away and it’s a shot at the posts upcoming
Wales 0-0 Argentina, 3 mins
Now Rio Dyer shows his skill as he skips past a man, cuts in from his right wing and makes good metres. Wales’s young back-three stars showing out early.
Argentina win the ball and clear but Wales will still have the lineout in Argentina territory. Good platform for them
Wales 0-0 Argentina, 2 mins
After a couple of early box kicks, Louis Rees-Zammit gets his first touch of the ball and he immediately shows his electric footwork to slide between defenders and make 30 metres to lift the crowd
Doesn’t matter whether he’s on the wing or at full-back, he’s a danger with ball in hand. Good offload as well but Faletau knocks the ball on a couple of passes later, so it’s an Argentina scrum on their own 22.
Wales 0-0 Argentina, 1 min
And we’re off in Cardiff! Santiago Carreras kicks the ball deep and it’s safely handled by George North
Wales vs Argentina
The teams are out and the anthems are just about completed. We’ll be kicking off in Cardiff imminently
Wayne Pivac gives his pre-match thoughts
Wales, and in particular coach Wayne Pivac, are under enormous pressure after a dismal run of results.
Speaking about last weekend’s record defeat to New Zealand, Pivac tells Prime Video: “We know we didn't play to our potential. We talked about a fast start and we need to start well. We need to be more physical, take it to the opposition and win collisions.
[On playing Louis Rees-Zammit at full-back]: “I guess it's a gamble because he’s not played there a lot but he trained well during the week. It's about back three as a whole helping each other.”
Argentina - team news
Meanwhile, Argentina have opted for an unchanged team and why not! They were superb in beating England at Twickenham last week so coach Michael Cheika sees no reason to switch things up.
It means Santiago Carreras continues at No 10, while kicker and wing superstar Emiliano Boffelli is the man who makes the Pumas tick, as shown by his 25-point haul a week ago
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Mateo Carreras, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou; 8 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Eliseo Morales, 22 Tomas Albornoz, 23 Matias Orlando.
Wales - team news
Attention now turns to Cardiff where under-pressure Wales take on Argentina. Kick-off is about 15 minutes away
The big team news is that Louis Rees-Zammit will start at full-back. He switches from his usual wing to fill a problem position, with Liam Williams and Leigh Halfpenny both injured.
Alex Cuthbert, who has recovered from injury, and Rio Dyer - a try-scorer on his Test debut when New Zealand beat Wales 55-23 last weekend - complete the back three. Gareth Anscombe, who deputised for Halfpenny five days ago, reverts to fly-half, replacing Rhys Priestland.
Elsewhere, prop Dillon Lewis starts instead of Tomas Francis and experienced Ospreys flanker Dan Lydiate features in the back row.
With Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell sidelined because of a rib injury, captain Justin Tipuric moves across to openside, packing down with No 8 Taulupe Faletau in a back-row trio boasting 246 caps. There is no place in the matchday 23 for Wales’ record cap holder Alun Wyn Jones.
Wales: 15 Louis Rees-Zammit, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 George North, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Ben Carter, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Owen Watkin.
F/T: England 52-13 Japan
“Really happy with that performance,” says Freddie Steward, named Player of the Match. “We had a point to prove after last weekend. We worked really hard this week and I’m glad it worked out for us. It was an incredible atmosphere today.
“Back to the drawing board [to prepare for New Zealand]. We’ll look at what we did well today, but we’ll need to be better next week.”
FULL TIME! ENGLAND 52-13 JAPAN
A much, much improved showing from England, and that’s something of a statement victory over what is a more than handy Japanese side. At last, the much discussed attack clicked in a manner that delighted the Twickenham crowd, with Freddie Steward producing an outstanding display, Ellis Genge bristling about and the Marcus Smith/Owen Farrell axis creating all manner of issues for the Japan defence.
Plenty to like for Eddie Jones ahead of next week’s encounter with the All Blacks.
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