As SuperSport’s ground-breaking Chasing the Sun documentary nears its climax this Sunday, it is easy to forget just how much the Springboks were underdogs going into the World Cup final in 2019.
While Episode four showed the Boks discipline, grit and determination to outmuscle Japan and out-kick Wales on their way to the final, it made little mention of the elephant in the room when the Boks took the field against Wales – the way England demolished the All Blacks. Against the background of having lost their pool game against the All Blacks, the first semifinal was not only a shock for the rugby world, it rocked the entire planet.
Here the unbeaten, double-defending World Champions looked played off the park, the black jersey looking sorry and worn against an English side who would have beaten anyone they played on the day. It was a day that Eddie Jones got it right, and the World was shook. And given the Boks performance in the semifinal a day later, it wasn’t surprising that England were quickly made favourites.
Of course the English press did their job and wrote their team up on the back of the excellent performance, so much so that the Boks would never had a chance after reading those headlines.
“England beat an aura on Saturday. They beat an ideal. They beat a legend. Perhaps even a myth. They beat a halo. They beat a dream. They beat an idea.
They beat the most powerful mind-game in sport,” Oliver Holt wrote in the Daily Mail after the game. “They beat gods. They beat a haka. They beat beauty. They beat a meticulously manicured accumulation of invincibility. And when they had vanquished all that, they beat a team, too.
“They beat Jonah Lomu trampling on Mike Catt and turning him into roadkill at Newlands in 1995. Not because they erased the memory of it but because they gave English rugby glorious memories of its own to cherish for ever more.”
BRING IT ON
Brimming with confidence it wasn’t surprising to see that filter through to every England sentence said in the week, starting with Billy Vunipola who taunted the Boks with a physical challenge.
"They have already come out and said they want to fight fire with fire. I guess we return it by saying, 'bring it on',” Vunipola said. Former England captain Nick Easter upped the ante, saying England would “take revenge” for their 2007 final defeat at the hands of the Springboks.
“I am expecting revenge for 2007 in the Rugby World Cup final we lost against South Africa this Saturday,” Easter said. “This England team at the moment have the best pack in the world. If you break it down - we have the best front-row in the world, the best second-row and the best back-row. At this point we have the best of each row in the pack.
“The Kamikaze Kids - Sam Underhill and Tom Curry - give England a huge advantage, and that will be telling on Saturday having breakdown specialists.” Easter, who coached at the Sharks for two seasons, went on.
“I respect the Boks hugely - they can move the ball – but all I have seen is centre Damian De Allende crashing it up and a maul from the Boks.
“Our defence is just as strong as theirs, our attack is as good as anyone's in the world, and so it comes to the top two inches. Who is going to crack first? John Mitchell has been huge for England working on the defence - before he came in England shipped 60 to the Barbarians and 40 in the first test in South Africa. “England have more players who have played in big games than they have. South Africa will perceive themselves to be underdogs - that's a dangerous proposition.
“South Africa can mix the brute force with an expansive style, but I can't see it happening because they've shown none of that at this World Cup and it's a six-day turnaround.” Stuart Barnes called on Rassie Erasmus to drop Siya Kolisi from the starting line-up in favour of Francois Louw, and while there may have been a rugby argument to be had, the sly among us would have smiled at the chaos it would have caused in the Bok camp.
TRUMP CARDS
The Daily Mail took it further, trumping England’s superiority. “All around the field, there appear to be English trump cards. George Ford's outstanding tactical kicking is another one, as is the attacking cohesion needed to unleash the lethal runners out wide. England's back three can expect more ammunition than their Springbok counterparts.
“It is there for them. The door is ajar. Now is the time to blast through it and seize their moment. Victory would bring so much their way: a place in folklore, fame and fortune, awards and honours, mega-endorsements, Palace invites, open-top bus rides, chat-show appearances and a retirement of lucrative after-dinner speaking engagements.”
The bookies made England 2/1 favourites, giving the Boks an outside 9/4 chance. A tickertape was planned for London on the Tuesday after the final. There was even a bit of banter, as Warren Gatland suggested England had already played their final in the win over New Zealand.
"You just send my best wishes to Warren to make sure he enjoys the third and fourth place play-off," said Jones in a tongue-in-cheek comment at England's news conference.
ANOINTED CHAMPIONS
It was only the sage words of World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward that went against the grain from the England camp. “Just about everybody in Japan and around the rugby world have been lavish in praise of England after the New Zealand game and seem to have already anointed Eddie Jones's team as world champions,” Woodward wrote. “That really worries me. Sport just doesn't work like that. In a knockout tournament, your last game counts for nothing.
“It counted for nothing in 1987 when France recorded a memorable semifinal win over Australia only to misfire badly a week later in the final against New Zealand.
“It was irrelevant in 1995 when New Zealand thrashed England only to lose to South Africa. And in 1999 it was exactly the same when the French again produced rugby from the Gods against the All Blacks only to implode a week later against Australia.
“Eddie knows this better than anybody. His Aussie team produced a memorable semifinal against the All Blacks in 2003 only to lose to us a week later.” Woodward still predicted an England win, as he was expected to, but tried to temper the expectation. And the Boks waited and watched, got themselves into a frame of mind where losing wasn’t an option, and won their third World Cup final.
This all will unfold on Sunday at 6pm on MNet as the final episode of Chasing the Sun takes us through the week of the final and what it meant for South Africa. It will be an episode England will want to forget.