Boks face All Blacks in WC final showdown
Handre Pollard broke English hearts as he landed a 49-metre penalty three minutes from time to book South Africa’s place in the World Cup final as they edged England 16-15 at the Stade de France last Saturday (Oct 21).
The Springboks will face New Zealand in tomorrow’s (Oct 28) final after the All Blacks trounced Argentina 44-6 in their semi-final.
Victory over England took the holders through to their fourth final where either they or the All Blacks will become the first team to notch up four World Cup wins.
In a repeat of the 2019 final, England appeared to have turned the tables on the Boks with a superb performance in the wet and windy conditions, leading by the first of Owen Farrell’s successfully converted penalties.
It was Farrell’s stunning 48-metre drop goal that gave England a 15-6 lead going into the final 10 minutes of the match. However, the South Africans are known for never giving up a lost cause and so Pollard proved.
Three minutes from time, England were penalised for collapsing the scrum. From just in front of halfway Pollard coolly fired the ball between the posts to put the Boks in front for the first time, a lead they managed to hold on to.
“I think they put us under pressure in exactly the right areas,” said Pollard afterwards.
“But jeez the fight we showed, never giving up, it is what we stand for as a team and as a nation.”
Farrell was extremely proud of his teammates but also gracious in defeat.
“I am unbelievably proud of this group and what they have done over this past few months together,” he said.
“Credit to them fighting their way back into it and finding a way to win at the end.”
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined his countrymen in heaping praise on an All Blacks side that has exceeded national expectations by reaching the Rugby World Cup final.
The three-time champions were regarded as outside hopes to clinch the silverware by many in the rugby-mad country after going into the tournament in mixed form and emphatically losing their opening pool game to hosts France. However, their desperate 28-24 quarter-final defeat of top-ranked Ireland reset expectations, and the semi-final dismantling of Argentina had headline writers searching for superlatives.
The New Zealand Herald focused on the improvements made under head coach Ian Foster since the “chaos” of his team’s first-ever defeat on home soil to Argentina little more than a year ago.
“Foster is now 80 minutes away from writing one of the greatest redemption stories in rugby history,” the newspaper said.
The 2023 Rugby World Cup final kicks off at 2am Phuket time on Sunday (Oct 29).