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Brunel describes loss to Springboks as 'cruel' and 'avoidable'
By Peter Thompson
Jacques Brunel felt France's "cruel" defeat to South Africa in Paris on Saturday was down to a lack of experience.
Les Bleus held a 14-point advantage early in the second half and led with the clock red, but Mbongeni Mbonambi's try snatched it for the Springboks.
France could have killed the game off when they were on the attack in the closing stages, only for Francois Louw to force a turnover.
Brunel said his side only had themselves to blame for a heart-breaking 29-26 loss at Stade de France.
"It's a cruel scenario," he said.
"We had started the game well. We have a good first half, during which we attacked put them under severe pressure.
"In the last minutes, we did not know how to protect our lead. We lack experience and perspective. We needed more control and patience.
Rassie Erasmus praised South Africa's battling spirit on the back of a narrow defeat to England.
"We learned a few lessons from last week that we were able to apply and we were rewarded for it, even if it is not our best performance," said the Springboks head coach.
"It was a stressful match, but the emotion is good. We showed courage.
"Fighting back after being so far behind is often hard, especially when it is raining. The guys handled the key moments well and were better at withstanding the pressure."
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I just don't see any progress in their game plan- still unable to cope with rush D, back-line is clunky - not fluid (despite the same players being together for some time), unbalanced lose trio - Ardie has gone backwards and we wasted his best years in a position he was never going to flourish in (those who say he won WPOY in that position miss the point that he would have won at any position but would definitely have still won it at 7), and I don't see an ability of this team to play with confidence knowing their roles. Handling and skills have to be the worst seen for years with sloppy and dropped passes, people not expecting passes - kick-off receptions poor, on and on. This was a hall mark of his Crusader teams. I wonder if Razor wanted to show he could replicate his first year at Saders with the same players Foster used. I struggle to understand his rationale to keep that squad mostly intact (except for retirements or off-shore contracts) and ignore talent emerging in SR. No wonder good SR players are exiting. Rant over. As is my enthusiasm for AB rugby - which is mostly being played by Boks, Irish, French and even Scotland!
Go to commentsgreat to see Fin Smith given a shot. Hoping against hope that he and Ford are trusted to run things in the 6N. We urgently need a fly-half who is capable of bringing his outside backs into the game.
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