The touring France hockey side suffered a close 3-2 loss to a pumped-up South Africa Under-21 side at Xerox Park in East London on Monday.
But don’t read too much into the result of the match — the first of three warm-up games for the tourists before playing the senior South African team in two Tests at the weekend.
The tourists were not at full strength, with five of their top players having arrived from Europe on Monday morning, and likely to play in the second warm-up game on Tuesday.
Before the match, France’s manager, Patrick Roult, was a bit apprehensive.
”The South Africa Under-21 team have something to prove, so it could be a difficult game for us,” he ventured. ”Many of their players want to get into the senior team.”
However, the tourists were first on the board when their short, nippy midfielder, Matthieu Durchon, received the ball in the circle just minutes before half-time and swivelled, leaving South African goalkeeper Dru Hewson standing. The half-time score was 1-0.
The match was played at times at a ferocious pace, with the ball moving from one side of the field to the other.
South Africa Under-21 midfielder Lloyd Norris-Jones was yellow-carded for chirping early in the second half. Soon afterwards, French forward Sebastien Jeanjean joined him in the sin bin for over-robust play.
However, upon returning to the field, Norris-Jones stunned the French with a powerful shot from the right that hit the left corner of the goal for a well-deserved equaliser.
Minutes later, Luguile Tsolekile, who was playing his heart out, scored after a shot from Austin Smith deflected off his stick into the goal.
While France were attacking, Hewson was making some stupendous saves for the Under-21 team. On more than one occasion, France attacked with little impact because of the tall, brave goalkeeper.
The tourists will need to smarten up their short-corner work to be effective in the Tests, as a couple of their short-corner combinations went awry.
In the 64th minute, Craig Hayley scored for South Africa to make the score 3-1, and minutes later, Jeanjean pounced on a push from Nicolas Monnier to score.
There was some niggling immediately after the goal, with some shoving and loud arguments from both teams, but the final whistle prevented any serious problems from developing.
There were no excuses from French head coach Bertrand Reynaud.
”The players were tired after travelling,” he stated matter-of-factly.
”It’s disappointing to lose to a junior team, but some of our players were playing out of their normal positions,” he added.
South Africa Under-21 coach Mark Hensburg was pleased with his team’s performance.
”There’s still some basics to work on,” he said.
He feels the team need to be more consistent and they must keep up the intensity for the full 70 minutes.
According to Hensburg, the team also tend to give away goals in the last few minutes of play, which is exactly what happened on Monday.
The next two warm-up games between the same two teams will be played on Tuesday and Thursday.
The senior South African squad arrives in East London on Wednesday. — Sapa