After suffering a humiliating 4-1 defeat to Mexico in their opening Group A encounter last week, France recorded their first win of the competition on Sunday when they emerged victorious from a seven-goal thriller against South Africa.
David Notoane's side led the match on three occassions through goals from Kobamelo Kodisang, Evidence Makgopa and Teboho Mokoena, only for Gignac (35) to equalise in each instance, before Teji Savanier delivered a late sucker-punch to earn the French a 4-3 come-from-behind triumph.
Following the match, the competition's leading goalscorer admitted that there were times he and his teammates felt as though they would be eliminated from the Olympics and that they had to dig deep in order to pull off the remarkable turnaround.