World champion South Africa suffered a second successive loss on its northern hemisphere tour as France triumphed 20-13 in Toulouse on Friday night.
Les Bleus overturned a 13-3 deficit with Julien Dupuy kicking four penalty goals, his replacement Morgan Parra adding a fifth and Vincent Clerc completing a flowing move with a try.
Morne Steyn - one of two players sin-binned for South Africa - kicked a penalty, a dropped goal and converted John Smit's first-half try for the Tri Nations champion, which lost to Leicester last week.
South Africa recalled its big guns for the first Test of the tour, including prop Tendai Mtawarira.
The 24-year-old, nicknamed 'The Beast', was born and raised in Zimbabwe but made his Springboks debut last year, although his eligibility through residency criteria has been questioned by South Africa's sports ministry this week.
Despite the confusion, Mtawarira started at the Stade Municipal where Steyn cancelled out Dupuy's opening penalty before putting the visitors in front with a dropped goal.
The Springboks' lead became 10 points when William Servat's wayward throw five metres from his own line cleared intended target Imanol Harinordoquy and fell to Smit, who dropped over the line for the game's opening try. Steyn converted.
France immediately responded, however, with Thierry Dusautoir, Maxime Mermoz and his midfield colleague Yann David punching holes in the Springbok defence before a neat offload from Francois Trinh-Duc allowed Clerc to score.
Bryan Habana was fortunate not to be disciplined for kicking Clerc on the ground after a penalty had been awarded for an infringement at the breakdown before Steyn was then sent to the sin bin on the stroke of half-time for a deliberate trip on the French wing.
Dupuy, who struggled to find his range when kicking at goal, was successful with the resulting penalty to cut the deficit to two points before two further penalties put the hosts into a four-point lead.
Mtawarira was withdrawn nine minutes into the second half after failing to perform at his destructive best as the Springboks' renowned scrum struggled throughout.
No.8 Ryan Kankowski became the second South African to be sent to the sin bin after handling on the ground but Parra hooked the resulting penalty wide.
Parra did, however, stroke an easy chance through the posts to extend the advantage to seven and seal victory.
South Africa meets Saracens on Tuesday before Tests with Italy and Ireland.