Lining up for the national anthems! Appears to be a great atmosphere and excitement from the crowd.

One of the worst renditions of the South African national anthem I’ve heard. Shame.

South Africa have not played in Toulouse since 1974. However they did win on that occasion.

The surface appears a little slippery underfoot which may limit running rugby.

2nd Min – Penalty to France, Schalk Burger offside chasing the kick. Ref Wayne Barnes could also be a big factor in tonight’s test.

5th Min – Penalty France. John Smit penalised for going into the ruck from the side. It’s been a very physical opening to the test as we expected.
Adi Jacobs made a strong tackle on his opposite early on.
The French kick the penalty and France lead early on 3-0.

7th Min – Ryan Kankowski loses the ball at the maul. That’s the reason I don’t rate him. Not so good doing the hard yards.

12th Min – Tremendous pressure at the breakdowns. Brussow has made one steal so far. but the Boks are making silly errors due to the pressure. Time to settle it down and build some pressure.

17th Min – South Africa building pressure, and enjoying good territory. Howevr they look disjointed on attack and players are running poor lines and getting in each others way.

19th Min – Penalty to South Africa after France transgress at the maul. The maul is working well for the Boks so far.
Morne Steyn to kick from 43m out.
What a beautiful kick! He is a machine. Morne makes such difficult kicks look easy.
The score is 3-3!

22nd Min – Brilliant Bok breakout. They are looking more dangerous as the match goes on. John Smit puts in a cross kick! Not his strength, but it’s good to see the Boks have free reign to try things and express themselves.

The Bok scrum earns a turnover. The first few scrums have looked very solid.

25th Min – Excellent Springbok pressure. Morne Steyn sits back in the pocket and executes a great snap drop goal!

South Africa 6, France 3.

26th Min – Wow. Ref Wayne Barnes said he called “advantage over” too early and has gone back on a decision. I’ve never seen that before. Good reffing.

28th Min – John Smit scores! Brilliant Springbok pressure with the kick and chase produced a lineout 5m from the French line. Smit claimed the overthrown ball and barges over. Awesome, and no player deserves a try more.
Morne Steyn nonchalantly kicks it from the sideline.
Boks ahead 13-3.

31st Min – Ryan Kankowski spills a ball in midfield and gifts the French excellent possession and teritory, and the French score a good try in the corner to Vincent Clerc.
The conversion is wide and the Boks lead is cut to 13-8.

37th Min – Penalty to France. Bakkies Botha goes in at the side of the ruck.
Julien Dupuy has another shot at goal and hits the post.

38th Min – John Smit made a beautiful tackle. He’s had a great game and has been all over the park. Hopefully that answers his critics.

40th Min – Morne Steyn yellow carded for a foot trip. Not much in it, but it will rob the Boks of their goal kicker at the start of the second half.
Dupuy gets the penalty and gets the French tails up going into halftime.

Halftime South Africa 13 France 11

France started off well, but as the half wore on the Springboks started to get their game going and played with good field position. Small errors have cost the Boks, Kankowski has made two vital ones.

Two areas everybody thought would be Bok weaknesses, the scrum and defence in Adi Jacobs’ channel have been good. The French don’t look that dangerous on attack, but if they grab the lead they’ll be especially hard to beat. With Morne Steyn off, the Boks will have to play it tight and down the right end of the field at the start of the second half.

41st Min – Poor start from South Africa. Zane Kirchner makes his first real mistake and overcooks the kick-off.

45th Min – South Africa penalised for pulling down the maul.
Dupuy has a chance to put the French in front again.
From 50m out, he cannot convert.

48th Min – Adi Jacobs superb on defence as France breakout. Ryan Kankowski drops the ball again.

Schalk Burger leaves the field looking very uncomfortable and Danie Rousouw comes on.

48th Min – The Bok scrum disintegrates and the Beast is penalised.
Dupuy doesn’t miss this one and France earn the lead again. 14-13.
Morne Steyn about to come back on.

54th Min – Excellent French pressure. As soon as they get in front they look like a different side. They have the crowd right behind them now, and a good tackle from the Beast spills the ball forward close to the Bok line.

The Beast leaves the field and CJ van der Linde makes his Bok comeback after last playing in August 2008. He will actually play on the loosehead side.

55th Min – The French makes some changes and on comes Sebastien Chabal.

Imanol Harinordoquy also injured and replaced by Julien Bonnaire.

58th Min – Penalty to South Africa. France penalised for pulling back Jaque Fourie and the ball wasn’t even in play. Everyone was running to the lineout, and that’s bad discipline.
Morne Steyn misses a difficult kick.

60th Min – Kankowski loses the ball for the 4th time. This time it’s a vital turnover inside the Springbok 22. We need Spies!!!

61st Min – Springbok scrum penalised for driving around. It all comes back to the turnover.
Dupuy makes no mistake and gives the French a 17-13 lead. Tough for the Boks now. I really think we’re going to have to score a try.

64th Min – Penalties coming thick and fast for the French. This time Brussow penalised at the maul.

66th Min Brussow stops the rot and wins a penalty for being on his feet at the ruck. Good work, after Victor Matfield made an important tackle to stop Chabal.

Julien Dupuy substituted for Morgan Parra.

68th Min – South Africa hot on attack and marched 60m downfield.

Ryan Kankowski gets 10 minutes in the bin and just reward for a crappy game. He is just not up to international standard.

Parra misses a simple penalty and keeps South Africa’s chances alive.

Wynand Olivier on for Adi Jacobs, and Adriaan Strauss on for Bismarck du Plessis.

75th Min – Scrum France. France enjoying all the territory and making it hard for South Africa. We need a Habana intercept or something similar to get out of this one.

77th Min – Plenty of chances for France to wrap this game up. Springbok need a miracle. Please!

78th Min – Our scrum is destroyed and a penalty right in front will wrap this game up for France.

Parra kicks France to a 20-13 lead. A draw is still possible with 90 seconds to go.

Full Time France 20 South Africa 13

Hugely disappointing from the Springboks. Once Morne Steyn got carded, the French gained all the momentum. Little errors and better tactical kicking from the French gifted them opportunities and once again our scrum let us down in the second half. It’s becoming a problem.

Th French deserve their win, and they were the better side, but the Springboks have some major areas to tidy up on. I do think some of our top guys look jaded. I’d rest them now and get them fresh for next year, but that will never happen.

2 Consecutive losses on tour is not good. A wonderful season may end up being remembered for the wrong reasons.