The weight of those results has lingered. France were still talking about the impact of one defeat two years later, when the Springboks returned and won 32-17 despite playing half the match with 14 men.
France have spent years looking for a way to beat South Africa, and the search is no closer to ending.
South Africa have won nine of the 10 games the sides have played in the past 15 years, including the last five in Paris.
England, Ireland and even Wales all have better head-to-head records against the Springboks over the same stretch.
Injuries have narrowed France's options further. The missing players account for 34% of France's total playing time in the period and 41% of the points the team has scored.
The shortage has been sharpest at fly-half. Fabien Galthié said of the crisis:"It's been a huge challenge to overcome, but we've really enjoyed trying to design a solution.".
He has never yet sent out a French team without hope that they can, in his words, do something"improbable". That self-belief feels pretty thin this week.