MARSEILLE -- Bafana Bafana's hopes of making the next round of the World Cup took a blow when they suffered the might of a rampant France side and a 3-0 defeat at the imposing Stade Velodrome here last night.

Denmark earlier beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the other group C match and this only signalled an uphill climb for South Africa to step back from the brink of an ignominious elimination from their first World Cup finals.

France showed their class from the opening whistle when Stephane Guivarch was cut down by Lucas Radebe outside the box, but the Auxerre striker shot the free kick wide.

It was the type of start the French needed and it showed clearly that they would stretch the South African defence of David Nyathi, Mark Fish, Radebe and an impressive Pierre Issa to its limits.

There were hardly any problems for goalkeeper Fabien Barthez with South Africa's attack of Benedict McCarthy and Phil Masinga hardly having any room to move. They were so closely marked by Laurent Blanc, Marcel Desailly and Lizarazu Bixente that they could well have been suffering from claustrophobia.

With captain Didier Deschamps working tirelessly in the midfield and his probing runs kept the front runners of Guivarch and Youri Djorkaeff buzzing in the heart of the defence.

The inventive play of Juventus midfield Zidine Zidane also had the South Africans clearing desperately at times.

It was the fine play of goalkeeper Hans Vonk that saved the South Africans from humiliation. He made some brave and daring saves denying Zidane, Djorkaeff and substitute Christophe Dugarry, who replaced Guivarch in the 26th minute.

Dugarry was hardly on the pitch when he nodded in a corner kick from Zidane in the 34th minute after the latter broke down the middle, cut down the left, but his cross was turned away by Issa.

Although Brendan Augustine, Quinton Fortune and John 'Shoes' Moshoeu tried to get control of the midfield, the class of their opposite numbers was just too evident.

The Bafana Bafana had one decent chance in the 46th minute when a free kick by Nyathi was nodded tantalisingly close past the near post from close range by Issa.

The pace of the game never eased after the break and although there was some urgency in the South Africans' play after the break, it was France who were the more threatening.

They had the ball in the back of the net again in the 54th minute, but Dugarry was ruled offside by Brazilian referee Rezende de Freitas.

South African coach Philippe Troussier replaced Augustine with Helman Mkhalele three minutes later to bring some more mobility to the midfield.

But still the French came at them. Lizarazu, with a burst of speed, cut across a defender and whipped through a low cross, which Willem Jackson did well to cut off in the 64th minute.

The South Africans never gave up and fought gamely and did not allow the French to get too far ahead in this battle of attrition. There was always the hope they would bounce back, but they just could not break even.

Coach Aime Jacquet brought on Alain Boghossian for a tiring Petit in the 72nd minute.

Poor luck dogged the South Africans and they were dealt a cruel blow when Djorkaeff collected a pass and his rather tame shot was deflected by Issa past Vonk, who was going the other way in the 79th minute.

Thierry Henry got a gift goal when he collected and hit past a sprawling Vonk and Issa could only help the ball go further in the net.