VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: Boks happy to win 'ugly'

VIDEO REACTION: The Springboks were happy to celebrate another ‘ugly’ win, rather than an unaesthetic loss.

South Africa beat France 29-26 thanks to a dramatic last-minute try in torrential rain at the Stade de France on Saturday.

It put their year-end tour back on track, following the heartbreaking and sickening one-point (11-12) loss in the opening match at Twickenham last week.

Replacement hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi’s touchdown after 85 minutes extended South Africa’s nine-year unbeaten run against France and restored some confidence for coach Rassie Erasmus with less than a year to go until the start of the World Cup in Japan – where his team face world number one side the All Blacks in the group stages.

Erasmus was under no illusions that the performance was somewhat below the required standards.

“We were rewarded for our work,” Erasmus said in his post-match reaction.

“Clearly it wasn’t a perfect match, but we learnt to manage the pressure,” he added.

The Bok coach also praised the calmness of the players to stay in the fight right to the end.

“Last week we took it through 15 phases to get a penalty to win the game [against England and it didn’t happen] and this week we had to score a try to win the match,” Erasmus said, adding that his side learnt a lot from last weekend’s mistakes at Twickenham.

“It was definitely not the most clinical performance, but the team was gusty enough and it feels much better [than last week].”

France were the better side in the first half and they managed to stretch their half-time advantage to a threatening 23-9 lead after the break.

“We’ve done it a few times this year where we were behind quite early in the match, but this score line happened just before and after half-time and that made it tough,” Erasmus said.

“There were a few big moments [for us] and I thought our guys handled those and the pressure very well.”

Match-winner Mbongeni Mbonambi was happy to share the praise for their last-gasp victory.

“Credit to the whole team,” Mbonambi said.

“It was a massive team effort.

“We didn’t give up and in the end, it all paid off.”

Man of the moment! Here’s what Bongi Mbonambi said straight after that dramatic win over France at the @StadeFrance#boksontour#FRAvRSA pic.twitter.com/ammz3L2wAa

— South African Rugby (@Springboks) November 10, 2018

France coach Jacques Brunel was left to rue a number of errors.

“We allowed them to keep in touch with us because of little mistakes,” Brunel said.

“We lacked control,” he added.

Bok skipper Siyamthanda Kolisi was also happy to focus on the ‘positives’.

“It was an incredible finish and the boys showed fight and perseverance,” Kolisi said.

“It was tough, but we’ll take the win.

“We picked it up in the second half.

“We kept on fighting and it was special to see the energy of the guys at end.

“We though Cheslin had scored and Aphiwe’s try was ruled out [because of a forward pass], but we pressed on and I’m glad we were rewarded today.”

French scrumhalf Baptiste Serin scored the first points of the game with a penalty goal and he added a second on 12 minutes.

Flyhalf Handre Pollard opened the visitors’ account with his own effort on 13 minutes to cross the 300-points barrier in Test rugby.

The Springboks drew level with a quarter of the match played with the flyhalf’s second penalty goal.

Pollard put the visitors into the lead for the first time after 28 minutes, with an effort from 45 metres.

Camille Lopez pulled the teams level once again with a well-struck drop-goal, his first in 16 Tests.

France captain and hooker Guilhem Guirado crossed for his team’s first try after breaking away from a maul to dive over the Boks’ line for the final points of the first half.

Centre Mathieu Bastareaud grabbed France’s second try and Serin added the extras to extend their side’s advantage to 23-9 after two minutes of the second period.

Seconds later lock Sebastien Vahaamahina dropped Pollard’s restart and it was the visitors who made the most of the greasy ball as wing Sibusiso Nkosi crossed in the corner.

Pollard added his fourth penalty to close the gap to four points with less than half an hour to play.

He brought his side within a point ten minutes later after French flank Arthur Iturria was penalised for a dangerous tackle.

Serin added his fourth three-pointer of the match to regain a four-point advantage for Jacques Brunel’s side.

However, with 85 minutes on the clock, a clean South African line-out on the French five-metre line was followed by replacement Mbonambi’s unopposed break to the right of the set-piece to secure the victory.