Bok hearts filled with belief: Kolisi explains how they got the job done against France

The Springboks earned the right to meet England in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup semifinal, but it required a performance of real grit to edge France 29-28 in a tense quarterfinal in Paris on Sunday.

They had to show all their champion qualities as they kicked the host nation out of the tournament on the back of a late 10-point rally that helped swing the game in their favour.

France and SA delivered some scintillating and brutal rugby, often neutralising each other at close quarters. It left the game on a knife’s edge in the closing minutes.

The match did not have the extreme skill level and technical excellence of Saturday’s quarterfinal between the All Blacks and Ireland, but for tension and nerve-jangling suspense the Boks and France served up a classic.

It was an arm-wrestle throughout, but just when it looked like the Springboks would fail to find that extra gear to make up a six-point deficit, the excellent Eben Etzebeth was as long of stride as he was of desire.

His converted try with 13 minutes to go gave the Boks a one-point lead before Handré Pollard landed a long-range penalty to stretch it to four. Though Thomas Ramos added another penalty to bring the hosts to within a point again, France had no more to offer.

In the Bok pack, Etzebeth, Bongi Mbonambi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Frans Malherbe played leading roles from the start, while Kwagga Smith and Ox Nché upped the urgency and energy when they came on in the second half.

The way the Boks maintained their integrity in defence helped to break French resolve for the 10 minutes after the break that Etzebeth was in the sin bin.

At the back, Cheslin Kolbe proved a thorn in France’s flesh, while centres Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel were equally effective in attack and defence.

Kolbe’s first-half try had SA delirious, while his charge-down of Ramos’s attempted conversion after Peato Mauvaka’s try proved to be crucial in the final analysis. “Cheslin’s charge-down, you don’t see that often, somebody chasing a lost cause,” even Bok head coach Jacques Nienaber said.

“We were opened up a few times, but the scrambling, the effort the players put in was enormous.”

Kolbe’s try after Jesse Kriel’s grubber gave the Boks real belief that their counterpunching was hitting the mark. The Boks also profited richly from cross-field up-and-unders.

Rookie French wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey often found the ball heading down his way, though France in general did not take ownership of the ball in the first half and paid a heavy price.

Kolbe was particularly alert to opportunity, but there were others who operated on the same wavelength to get the ball to the men who could get to the tryline in the shortest space of time.

The Boks may have scored only one try in the second half, but it came at a crucial time. The Pollard penalty that followed gave them a bit more breathing space.

“Yeah, I think a lot of questions were asked of us as a group by the French team,” captain Siya Kolisi said. “The character of the boys stood out.

“We had a clear plan on what to do, especially in the breakdowns. We knew how hard they were going to be. They were tough to stop with 15 men, so imagine how hard it was with 14.

“We had to fight for each other for that period and I am really proud of the character and discipline we showed,” Kolisi said about the 10 minutes that Etzebeth found himself in the sideline.

Willed on by a packed and boisterous Stade de France, France kept coming, but the Boks’ first-time tackling and game management kept them at bay.

Here a nation’s heart is broken, but inside the Boks beats one of real belief.