YOUTH ON THE BALL
FOR Les Bleus in Durban, it has been a case of so close but not quite close enough since they first faced the Springboks at Kings Park in 1967, and we are not just talking about the controversial millimetres that separated France from beating South Africa in the 1995 World Cup semi-final.
In six internationals between the countries in Durban, France have drawn three times, lost twice by narrow margins and been smashed just once, 26-3 in 1967.
Perhaps it should not be mentioned too loud in Durban that France have never been victorious here, lest the French be seized by the spirit of the Los Pumas team who in 2015 picked Durban to register their first-ever win over the Springboks.
France have, of course, won in South Africa before, more times than the Boks would care to remember, with South Africa being a country where the cockerels have crowed the loudest on no fewer than six occasions.
The Springboks have won 11 of the 22 matches and there have been five draws in total.
But of those games, surely none came close to matching the drama that unfolded in monsoon-conditions in Durban in the Rugby World Cup semi-final of 1995.
The match almost never took place and kickoff was delayed by 90 minutes because Welsh referee Derek Bevan was concerned that field conditions were so bad that a front-row forward could have drowned had a scrum collapsed in one of the worst puddles, near the southern posts of the ground.
The Springbok management were panic-stricken. If the match was called off, France would advance to the final because of their superior disciplinary record in the tournament (James Dalton was red-carded in the match against Canada).
There was talk of bringing across water-soaking machines from the neighbouring Durban Country Club; there was serious discussion of calling up air force helicopters to spin up the moisture and distribute it away from the field.
So ultimately the game went ahead and to cut to the chase of one of the most dramatic chapters in Springbok rugby history, France came within a debatable centimetre of scoring the winning try, with time just about up.
A little earlier, first James Small and then Andre Joubert had dropped up and unders in the Bok 22, resulting in attacking French scrums.
Somehow the Boks held on, but when 110kg forward Abdelatif Benazzi collected the ball just three yards from the line, Small courageously redeemed himself for his earlier knock-on by literally putting his body on the line, diving across the try-line kamikazi-style to prevent Benazzi from grounding the ball.
The big fellow (to this day) thought he had, and in these days of the TMO, he might have been proved correct, but on this occasion the ruling went the way of the Springboks.
The Boks were jubilant beyond description as they sprung into the air when Beven sounded his whistle, while the Frenchmen were heartbroken. They collapsed in the mud and wept.
It was not the first time the Frenchmen had been shattered at having come so close to winning in Durban. In perhaps one of the most infamous Tests between the countries in terms of dirty play and ambiguous crowd reaction, the teams drew 8-8 in 1971, with much of the action having been far from the ball.
Frik du Preez was in the middle of the frequent scraps, as was the great Jo Maso, and when he was crash-tackled from behind by inside centre Joggie Jansen and had to leave the field, it sparked the ire of his countrymen, and free-for-all followed free-for-all.
Natal’s Tommy Bedford to this day recalls his most painful moment in rugby – being lustily kicked in the crown jewels by an angry Frenchman after crowd abuse had been targeted at France’s black wing Roger Bourgarel, who early in the game had been tackled into the crowd to raucous cheers. Bedford had nothing to do with it, of course, but when a fracas broke out in those days, anything went...
Bouragel, who was of Caribbean descent, was feisty as hell and twice sent Bok hero Du Preez to his backside when he was in full flight down the touchline.
Later in the game, Bourgarel was reportedly cheered every time he was involved in the action. It is impossible today to say if that was patronising or out of genuine respect, but at least we can acknowledge that courage on the field was noticed.
Will another slice of history await us on Saturday?
On Saturday it will 22 years to the day since the 1995 Rugby World Cup semi-final in Durban took place