‘We Did This for Siya’: Feinberg-Mngomezulu inspires Boks’ dramatic win on Kolisi’s milestone night

This one had all the ingredients of a blockbuster from the very beginning and what a blockbuster it was. As in all blockbusters, the best came last after a captivating build-up for the first hour.

South Africa played their most potent and direct rugby of the game in the last 20 minutes when they crept into their lead for the first time to claim a 32-17 win.

In this period their second try came through André Esterhuizen after a powerhouse maul over the French line and their third came through replacement scrum-half Grant Williams, who zipped under the French posts from close shortly after.

Whether it was co-incidence or not, the ‘Boks last 20 minutes co-incided with Manie Libbok coming on as a replacement for Damien Willemse.

Their fourth try – and the icing on the proverbial cake – came from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who converted his own try after a blazing performance throughout. He was the man-of-the-match, and came up with the quote of the evening when he said: “What more could you want? I’m playing for my country every Saturday afternoon. We did this for Siya.”

France, after showing so much, after counter-rucking with ferocity and running directly and powerfully, simply melted away in the last quarter. And this in front of their own, increasingly silent, home fans.

There was backstory aplenty to the Test. First, France wanted to exact revenge for their one-point defeat to the Springboks in the 2023 World Cup quarter-final, a competition they hosted.

Second, they wanted to put to bed the rather embarrassing statistic that they hadn’t beaten the Springboks at this venue for 20 years. Third, they wanted to prove that they can compete with the big boys of the southern hemisphere, something they’ve done from time to time but have failed to do consistently.

Then, adding a little spice to all the history, was the fact that this was Siya Kolisi’s 100^th game for South Africa: as far as backstory was concerned, it all added up to something rather tasty.

And tasty the match was. The Test itself, a pulsating, unstructured and often mesmerizing affair had it all: drama, passion, not to mention controversy, thunderous hits and a kicking game from both flyhalves that misfired as often as they were effective.

Damian Penaud opened the scoring early for France after a smart lateral run and chip from his fullback Tomas Ramos into space behind Kurt-Lee Arendse on the wing.

The deficit was shortened by a nerve-calming penalty by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who potted a second from a shorter distance to make it a one-point ball game. He missed two penalties later, however, which would have given South Africa the lead, as the home side’s discipline momentarily deserted them.

Next to score, though, was France, with a French line-out on the South African right being mauled up and spun wide; the South African defence was narrow, too narrow for two wide passes, and again Penaud was the last to touch the ball and dot down in the corner. Ramos converting with French cool.

At this stage, South Africa was 6-14 down, so it was time for some magic from ‘Bok scrum-half, Cobus Reinach. Sensing a flat blue defence, Reinach twinkled round the base of the scrum, chipped an advancing Penaud and dotted down in the corner as the ball bounced awkwardly. It was smart, cheeky and mightily effective. It also brought the ‘Boks to within touching distance.

Next, some bad luck for South Africa. Lood de Jager was adjudged to have made a high tackle on a French player. It seemed harsh. And will have been debated long and hard from everywhere from Pofadder to Postmasburg.

SCORERS

France (14) 17: Tries: Damian Penaud (2) Conversions: Tomas Ramos (2) Penalty: Ramos

South Africa (13) 32: Tries: Cobus Reinach, Andre Esterhuizen, Grant Williams, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu Conversions: Feinberg Mngomezulu (3) Penalties: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2)