Scrum-halves Cobus Reinach and Grant Williams, centre Andre Esterhuizen and fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, crossed for tries as South Africa had to absorb enormous pressure in Paris before winning the game in the final 10 minutes.
France had been hoping for revenge following their epic 29-28 Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat in 2023, and for much of the game it looked as though they would get it after two tries for record-breaking wing Damian Penaud.
But the Springboks’ status as the number one team in the world shone through in the end as their forwards wore down France, who were out on their feet in the final quarter of the game.
France were ahead inside the first four minutes after the Springboks lost an arial battle and from unstructured play, Thomas Ramos’ kick behind the defence was collected by Penaud and he crossed to score.
In doing so, he became the leading try-scorer for France in international rugby, going past Serge Blanco for his 39th.
South Africa landed two penalties from Feinberg-Mngomezulu, the second following a scrum penalty where the Springboks pushed France off their own ball.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu then missed two more shortly afterwards as French discipline disintegrated, but the Springboks were not able to take immediate advantage.
Penaud scored his second after being worked into space on the right after France chose an attacking lineout rather than a simple penalty and were rewarded.
France had the ascendency in general play, but South Africa were dominant at the scrum and from another shove on the halfway line, Reinach spotted a gap between two home forwards and chased down his own chip ahead to score.
The Springboks were dealt a blow minutes before halftime when De Jager was shown a permanent red card after shoulder contact to the head of Ramos deemed reckless and always illegal by referee Angus Gardner.
Ramos was on his knees on the ground, but the fact that De Jager did not wrap his left arm swayed the match officials towards the harshest sanction and France led by 14-13, and a man, at halftime.
De Jager’s absence meant South Africa took off Kolisi at the break for Ruan Nortje, meaning his impact was limited in his milestone test.
France camped in the South African half in the third quarter of the game as the Springboks clung on grimly.
When Manie Libbok’s kick was charged down, South African conceded a penalty in scrambling defence and Ramos’ penalty just before the hour-mark was the first points of the second half.
But from then on, it was one-way traffic as the Springboks finally found an entry into the France 22 and having turned down two shots at goal, swung the ball wide and France wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey was penalise for a deliberate knock-on.
He received a yellow card and France were perhaps lucky they did not concede a penalty-try, but from the resultant penalty and driving maul, Esterhuizen barged his way over the try-line and the visitors led 18-17 with 15 minutes to play.
The momentum swung South Africa’s favour and when Williams burst into a gap from another attacking line-out.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu added the cherry on top for the vistors with a fourth try to give the scoreline a more emphatic look on another night that will go down as a famous Springbok win in Paris.