Former France centre Denis Charvet has held nothing back when comparing Fabien Galthie to his South African counterpart Rassie Erasmus, saying “Erasmus plays chess, Galthié played checkers.”

The comments have come off the back of France’s 32-17 defeat to the world champions at the Stade de France on Saturday in their first meeting since their World Cup quarter-final two years ago.

The match was billed as arguably the contest of the Quilter Nations Series, and appeared to be delivering on that promise in the first half. However, Les Bleus went out with a whimper in the second 40, appearing tired and tactically bankrupt as the visitors piled on the points despite being down to 14 players following Lood de Jager’s red card shortly before half time.

It is that second-half performance that has left Charvet no choice but to assess the performance of his compatriots as a humiliation.

From swapping his loosehead props Boan Venter and Gerhard Steenekamp after 30 minutes, taking off his captain Siya Kolisi at half time in his 100th appearance, or bringing on Andre Esterhuizen on in the back-row for the final 30 minutes, Erasmus was not afraid to make some huge calls in Paris, and they all paid off, with Charvet branding him a “genius”.

Points Flow Chart

South Africa win +15

Time in lead

76%

% Of Game In Lead

21%

9%

Possession Last 10 min

91%

“The way the match unfolded makes it seem like we put up a good fight,” Charvet said on RMC’s Super Moscato Show. “But when you analyse it in cold blood, you realise the thrashing we got. They humiliated us, crushed us.

“In the first half, one thing that struck me was the collisions. Every time we were pushed back, we were blown apart by tackles that were destructive. So you can’t say you dominated a team when they kept pushing you back and you couldn’t make any difference with the ball in hand.

“When you’re a player and you come off a match like that, you’re exhausted and you don’t have the clarity to recognise (you’ve been thrashed). I think they’re going to review the match on video and it’s going to be… A thrashing and a drubbing? I think that’s what Fabien Galthié is going to say.

“Erasmus plays chess, Galthié played checkers. Erasmus is always one step ahead, it’s incredible. What Erasmus does needs to be talked about, we need to focus on this man. For me, he’s a genius. He brings solutions to a group and a team in a way that few managers have been able to do.”