Another one-point epic as Boks make history

The Springboks are back to back Rugby World Cup champions after edging home 12-11 in an epic and tense final at Stade France against an All Black team that very nearly did what their opponents did in the previous play-off games by finding a way to win out of adversity.

It was another game that wouldn’t have been good for Bok supporters with dickey hearts, with the game on a knife-edge for the duration of the second half. Earlier, it didn’t look like it would be that close.

When New Zealand was reduced to 14 men in the first half because of one of those really horrible red cards, with the All Black captain Sam Cane the man who was banished in the 33rd minute initially for a yellow card that was then upgraded to a red by the bunker, you wouldn’t have given them a chance of making it close.

BONGI WAS A BLOW THAT STYMIED SA

The Boks had already suffered the kind of blow they really didn’t need early in the game, when Bongi Mbonambi, the one man other than Faf de Klerk who the Boks didn’t need to leave the field, had his knee ligament twisted early in the game due to a neck roll from Shannon Frizell that go the All Black flanker into the naughty chair for 10 minutes.

Deon Fourie certainly stepped up to the plate in general play, but he wouldn’t have expected to be playing hooker for over 75 minutes of the game. So there was lineout dysfunction that was inevitable, but the Boks managed to raise themselves above that and for the rest of the half they were in control of the game. They were doing the opposite of last week by winning the kicking game and dominated the early territory, and when Handre Pollard kicked the penalty awarded for the Cane indiscretion, the Boks went ahead 12-3.

Just as was the case when England were ahead by exactly the same score last week, that was more of a margin than it would normally have been given that it was a wet weather game. And of course, the much feared Bok Bomb Squad still had to come onto the field and everyone was anticipating forward domination when that happened.

ALL BLACKS CAME BACK TENACIOUSLY

Instead though it was New Zealand who came back tenaciously and bravely. They kicked a penalty to make it 12-6 at halftime, the same score in favour of the Boks that they enjoyed in the 2019 final in Yokohama in Japan. And for the first couple of minutes in the second half, it looked like they might kick on and win comfortably, just like they did four years ago.

First Kolisi found himself with space and very few defenders between himself and the All Black tryline. He surged to within a few metres of the try, and the try would probably have come had he used one of the backs standing outside him. Instead, he held on and the skipper was pulled up just short.

Then a few minutes later Kurt-Lee Arendse dived over in the right corner only to put his foot on touch and then lose control in the act of going over. Was that the Bok chance of nailing the victory down gone? It did look like that when Kolisi was then carded for a similar offence - if you can call either of them that, they really are only accidents - and he had to leave the field, possibly for the card to be upgraded to red.

It wasn’t upgraded because the men in the bunker found there were mitigating circumstances, unlike in the Cane incident. But by the time Kolisi returned to the field, the game had changed and New Zealand suddenly had all the momentum. Richie Mo’unga appeared to have rounded the Bok defence and passed inside to Aaron Smith for what appeared to a break-back try, only for it to be disallowed because a knock-on, was picked up by the TMO.

MAINTAINED THE PRESSURE

They maintained the pressure and eventually, they did get it right when fullback Beauden Barrett crossed in the same corner in the 59th minute that Smith had crossed in five minutes earlier. A successful Mo’unga conversion would have put the All Blacks ahead for the first time in the game, but it was wide, and thus, the die was cast - once again the Boks found themselves defending a one-point lead.

Jordie Barrett, earlier the man who prevented the Kolisi try with a similar good hold-up on the line as the one he produced in the quarterfinal win over Ireland, was presented with a similar long-range penalty attempt with just over five minutes to go to the one that Pollard was presented with against England in the semifinal. But unlike Pollard, he pushed the kick wide.

IT WAS 14 AGAINST 14 IN THE LAST MINUTES

The Boks by that stage were themselves back to 14 men for the second time in the match as Cheslin Kolbe had been yellow carded for being ruled to have deliberately knocked the ball down with just under seven minutes to go. So it was 14 against 14 for half of the second half and for the crucial final minutes.

However, the Boks were determined and were not to be denied. Pieter-Steph du Toit was a deserved man of the match winner for his thumping tackles that kept knocking the Kiwis back and breaking their momentum. And Kwagga Smith did a few quite stupendous things with defensive steals as the All Blacks were carrying the ball at him in deep defensive positions.

Ultimately though all the Boks deserve credit, for their determination and resolve when repelling New Zealand attacks in the second half, and for the way they controlled the game in the first half, when they could easily have been ahead by more than nine points. In that period they effectively got right what they got wrong last week.

CONTROLLED FIRST HALF

The first half proved just enough to pip it for them against a team that deserves immense credit for the way it fought. Had the All Blacks scored a try at the end to win the game, no one would have denied they were deserved winners. Considering they were down to 14 men for so long, it would have been a stupendous achievement.

But one point is enough to win a final and make you champions for the next four years, just as one-point wins were enough to get Kolisi and his men to the final in the first place. They would have been relieved as much as elated when the final whistle sounded, just as was the case last week and the week after.

Ultimately though it was enough to make the Boks back-to-back champions and also to take the lead when it comes to World Cup wins - four to New Zealand’s three. They will again go to the tournament as champions when the next World Cup is played in Australia in four years' time.

Oh, and by the way, the record for the Boks in World Cup finals now reads played four and won four.

Scores

South Africa 12 - Penalties: Handre Pollard 4. New Zealand 11 - Try: Beauden Barrett; Penalties: Richie Mo’unga 2.