The Springboks kept their hopes of a record fourth title alive thanks to fly-half Handre Pollard’s second-half points, setting up a last-four meeting with England back in Paris on Saturday.
PARIS, France - Defending champions South Africa edged hosts France 29-28 in a thrilling seven-try encounter on Sunday to reach next weekend’s Rugby World Cup semi-finals.
"It was a hard game. We knew how tough it was going to be with the French team at home and honestly I just want to say well done to them for what they have achieved and how hard they worked." French President Emmanuel Macron was among the 79,500 crowd expecting -- and getting -- a match of the highest quality between Fabien Galthie's France team, third in the world rankings, and Jacques Nienaber's Boks, in second place.All eyes were on France captain Antoine Dupont, returning from a cheekbone fracture he suffered last month as the host nation eyed a first semi-final spot since they finished runners-up for a third time in 2011.
Manie Libbok, inconsistent from the tee so far this World Cup but picked ahead of World Cup-winning fly-half Handre Pollard at fly-half, then brought things level after 10 minutes to cap a breathless start to the game. Ramos’ difficult conversion attempt was dramatically charged down by Cheslin Kolbe to make it 12-12 before the Boks took the lead again -- those spurned points would prove costly in the final result.
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