'Bad luck, but it was a red card': Bok coach Nienaber on Du Toit's costly sending off

In Marseille

"Bad luck, but it was a red card."

That was Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber's response to Pieter-Steph du Toit's 11th-minute red card in South Africa's 30-26 loss to France at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille on Saturday.

It came when the Boks were 3-0 down from Thomas Ramos's first penalty, from where the hosts surged into a 13-0 lead.

The Boks, as World Champions, were made of far sterner stuff and by half-time, they were only 16-10 behind after Siya Kolisi's try, along with a difficult penalty by Cheslin Kolbe, plus the conversion.

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The Boks managed to stay with the French for as long as they did, which heartened Nienaber, with the realisation dawning that the players needed to make up for Du Toit's absence.

The loose forward was sent off for his head making contact with that off French centre's Jonat Danty while cleaning out a ruck.

Du Toit's sin was an inadvertent one as he was dragged into the ruck by Damian de Allende. As per the rule book, it was a red card and rightly given as so.

"I'm not going share the tactical plans, but the pack put in 10 percent extra and I think that's why the loss hurts that much," Nienaber said.

"They kept us in the game, and we were 13-0 down, but they kept on fighting."

Nienaber said the result reflected their standing in World Rugby despite being World Champions and they need to get some of their on-field acts together.

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"We're four points behind France, who are the second-best team in the world and three points behind Ireland, who are the best team in the world," Nienaber said.

"France are the Northern Hemisphere (Six