As a result, the Bok Women will face New Zealand in their quarter-final at Sandy Park in Exeter at 14h00 next Saturday afternoon, while France will take on Ireland on Sunday.

The Bok Women entered the last round of pool matches as potential dark horses after two impressive performances against Brazil and, in particular, Italy that seemed to bely their world ranking coming into the tournament.

However, they were given a reality check by the team ranked fourth in the world as the match, which was billed as a pool decider, was effectively over as a contest by half-time as France scored four first-half tries, mixing up their game brilliantly against a SA side that showed wholesale changes from their victory over Italy.

Things were quite evenly poised early on, with France scoring an unconverted try before Byrhandré Dolf (fullback) landed a penalty goal to make it 5-3.

Nadine Roos delivered another strong performance for the Bok Women.

The French scored a second try but then disaster struck as Chumisa Qawe (centre) was sin-binned for a high tackle, which was upgraded to a 20-minute red card.

With their pack laying the foundation, France added three more tries to their tally in the time South Africa only had 14 players on the field, with their one-on-one tackling not up to scratch as the French found holes in the SA defence through good handling and pace.

The Bok Women's Bomb Squad were sent on early in the second half and although they made a difference, the South Africans failed to capitalise on a handful of opportunities.

Instead, France added two late tries to their tally to push them past 50 points, but the last say belonged to Nadine Roos, who was rewarded for a superb performance with a sublime individual try after the buzzer had sounded as the Bok Women refused to give up.

Scorers:

Springbok Women 10 (3) - Try: Nadine Roos. Conversion: Byrhandré Dolf. Penalty goal: Dolf.

France 57 (24) - Tries: Emilie Boulard (2), Gaby Vernier, Charlotte Escudero, Agathe Gerin, Joanna Grisez (2), Annaelle Deshaye, Alexandra Chambon. Conversions: Lina Queyroi (2), Morgane Bourgeois (4).