South Africa outclass England to win third Rugby World Cup
South Africa have dominated England in the final of the Rugby World Cup to secure their third world title in Yokohama, Japan. Wings Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe each scored tries as the Springboks leapt away to a 32-12 win over the tournament favourites.
Issued on: Modified:
Star player Kolbe put the icing on the cake for the Springboks in the late minutes, adding to a scintillating try from Mapimpi and six penalties from outstanding fly-half Handre Pollard.
Superb game management, set piece dominance, brutal defence and almost flawless place-kicking looked like being enough to see off an England side that had dismantled the double defending champion All Blacks in the semi-finals last week.
Mapimpi has been in prolific form this year, however, and he showed the South Africans can play a bit with ball in hand too when he finished off a try created by his own chip-through in the 66th minute.
Kolbe added the second try eight minutes later, skipping past the tackle of Owen Farrell on the wing and racing away to touch down to the delight of the South Africans in the crowd of 70,103.
Fly-half Pollard had already given the South Africans a clear lead from his penalties and he added the two conversions to take his match tally to 22.
Achieving for South Africa
While tactics were as traditional as the dark green Springbok shirt, the team was far more representative of the rainbow nation than those of 1995 and 2007, with Siya Kolisi is the first black captain to lift the Webb Ellis Cup.
"We are so grateful to the people of South Africa," Kolisi said after the match. "We have so many problems in our country. But a team like this, we come from different backgrounds, different races. We came together with one goal.
"I have never seen, since I've been alive, I have never seen South Africa like this." 💚
SuperSport 🏉🏆 (@SuperSportTV) November 2, 2019
An emotional Siya Kolisi delivers a powerful speech after the @Springboks become the winners of the Rugby World Cup 🇿🇦#StrongerTogether #RWCFinal pic.twitter.com/F6vE2ZRF8s
"I really hope we've done that for South Africa. Just shows that we can pull together if we want to achieve something."
South Africa Number 8 Duane Vermeulen was awarded player of the match.
🎱 What a performance from THORMEULEN#StrongerTogether #RWC2019 #ENGvRSA #RWCFinal #WebbEllisCup #RWCYokohama pic.twitter.com/6WPwY9xbHd
Springboks (@Springboks) November 2, 2019
Outplayed
England came into the match with huge expectations after the New Zealand win but only offered flashes of the brilliant all-pitch game which undid the All Blacks last week.
Head coach Eddie Jones, who was in charge of Australia when England won their only World Cup in 2003, becomes the first coach to lose two finals.
Fly-half Farrell kicked four penalties for England but they were chasing the match all evening and hanging on doggedly trying to contain the rampant Springboks by the end.
The English suffered a huge blow when prop Kyle Sinckler went off with concussion in the third minute leaving their scrum all but uncompetitive against the Springbok pack.
South Africa made the most of the weakness, winning a string of scrum penalties and building a foundation that enabled their wingers to seal the victory in the last 15 minutes.
The Springboks became the first team to lose a pool match at a World Cup and go on to win it, having lost to the All Blacks in their tournament opener at the same Yokohama International Stadium.
Well played @Springboks
England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) November 2, 2019
Congratulations on your third @rugbyworldcup win#RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/8TI8SQJriZ
(agencies)
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe