For the third time in history, South Africa won the Rugby World Cup. Springboks were better in the finals than their great rivals, England, posting a 32-13 win.
Even though many doubted in them, the South African rugby team rose to the occasion and performed best when needed the most. They completely tore apart the English side, not allowing them to have the slightest chances of winning today’s clash.
The physicality of the Springbox was just too much for Owen Farrell and the rest of the company, as they just felt helpless on the field of Nissan Stadium in Yokohama.
“We just couldn’t get on the front foot. We were dominated in the scrum, particularly in the first 50 minutes. When you’re in a tight, penalty-driven riven game, its difficult to get any sort of advantage,” said Eddie Jones, England’s coach.
The English side came into this event as a massive favorite. Right from the start of the tournament, they were projected to be the only team who could stop New Zealand on their path to win three World Cups in a row. And that indeed happened in the semifinals. After that match, many saw England as a certain winner of the tournament.
But those who did that, forgot the Springboks and their fantastic mentality, which emerged to the surface in this game.
Superb Handre Pollard delivered 22 points for the winners today. He had six penalties and two conversions made, and was ice-cold in the moments when one mistake could have turned the entire flow of the match. Each time England threatened to come down and cut the deficit, his shots were denying those pushes. Makazole Mapimpi‘s performance was also outstanding, as the South African winger harassed the rivals throughout the entire game. He would eventually score a try along with Cheslin Kolbe, to seal this game.
Scrum-half Faf de Klerk was thrilled after the game. He had a lot of job in this match but didn’t make a single mistake.
“We exploited them out wide, then it was a massive forward performance from our boys up front. It’s a massive win,” said de Klerk. “Our forwards have been phenomenal at scrum time, they came out, gave me great ball and time for the boys to play pout in the back. We’re so happy.”
South Africa won its third trophy here, and has a perfect record in the finals. Back in 1995, they defeated New Zealand in the finals after overtimes, and in 2007 beat England. But also, this generation will go down in history as the only one who took the Rugby Championship and the World Cup in the same year.
Also, Springboks are the only team that lifted the trophy after losing a game in the pool stage. New Zealand defeated them in the opener, 23-13, but that didn’t shake their morale. Following that failure, South Africa overcame Namibia, Italy, Canada, Japan, Wales, and finally England.
The next Rugby World Cup is in four years, and the host is going to be France.
