Both South Africa and New Zealand displayed incredible ruthlessness in their attack and defence, making it a close contest for the Webb Ellis Cup in Paris. However, the All Blacks fell short that evening.
Early in the first half, a Television Match Official (TMO) review by referee Wayne Barnes revealed a neck roll by New Zealand’s Shannon Frizell on Bongi Mbonambi, resulting in a quick yellow card – the first of many in the game.
Approaching halftime, the TMO directed Barnes to a shoulder-to-head contact by New Zealand captain Sam Cane on Rieko Ioane, resulting in a yellow card later controversially upgraded to a red, dramatically altering the way the All Black team would have to play from then on.
The halftime score favoured Rassie Erasmus’ South African team at 6-12. An almost successful South African try was nullified due to Ardense stepping into touch after a brilliant grubber through the All Black line by Willemse. While the All Blacks tried to clear the ball from their try line, Kolisi’s high tackle on Savea earned another yellow card, this time for the South African star.
With this latest card, hope seemed to flicker in the eyes of the New Zealand team despite their previous setbacks. An elegant line run through the South African defence by the All Black fly-half Mo’unga, followed by a convincing dummy to the wing, set up Aaron Smith beautifully with an inside ball for the try.
However, once again, the skill was not to be rewarded as the TMO alerted Barnes to a dropped ball at the previous lineout, despite repeated calls by Barnes on-field that there was no knock-on at the lineout. Leaving both the New Zealand team and fans frustrated.
Despite the disallowed try, the New Zealand attack remained strong. Phases through the forwards on the South African five-metre line drew the defence close together. Seeing a gap, Jordie Barrett flung a long pass to Telea on the left, who made enough ground that when he dropped the ball backwards, Beauden Barrett was able to pick it up with his fingertips and score the try in the blindside gap. However, after Mo’unga missed the conversion, it left New Zealand a point behind heading into the last quarter.
The final ten minutes saw New Zealand power up the right-hand side of the field. With gaps opening in the South African defence, Kolbe found himself stretched, covering two attackers on the wing, and went for the ball coming out of the hands of the New Zealand backs, leading to a deliberate knock-on and a subsequent yellow card. Jordie Barrett’s penalty kick, however, passed to the left of the posts, keeping New Zealand within one point of the South African score.
Sitting with his head in his hands for the last eight minutes, Kolbe’s sin-binning led to the end of the match being played with equal players on each side. A drop-goal attempt by South Africa’s Pollard to lengthen the score gap between the teams fell short, but it didn’t matter. The All Blacks’ attack simply lacked enough time to find gaps in the South African muscle.
With this failure to score, South Africa defended their World Cup title by one point for the third match in a row, sealing what has been an intense, exciting, and sometimes controversial tournament.
“President Cyril Ramaphosa travels to Japan for Rugby World Cup final” by GovernmentZA is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.