LONDON, 22 October 2007 — South Africa were crowned rugby’s new world champions as the Springboks beat reigning champions, England, 15-6 in a tense but close encounter at a packed Stade de France in Paris on Saturday evening.
The Midas touch for once eluded England’s match-winning talisman, fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, who was uncharacteristically off target with two kickable drop goals. Jonny did not go in this match. Instead, he looked pedantic and ordinary. So much so that rookie center replacement, Toby Flood, took over the touch kicking duties in the second-half.
It was a fitting climax to France 2007, which has kept millions of fans enthralled over the last six weeks and which has definitively been the greatest World Cup showcase to date.
When scrum-half Fourie du Preez deliberately kicked the ball into touch in the 80th minute and Irish referee Alain Roland blew the final whistle, the South African players, substitutes and officials alike, were jumping for sheer joy, literally like Springboks. So began the rainbow nation’s victory party.
A jubilant and perhaps relieved Springbok skipper, John Smit, flanked by his president, Thabo Mbeki, and French host, President Nikolai Sarkozy, lifted the Webb Ellis Cup to the cheers of thousands of supporters and rugby fans the world over. Even the most die-hard of English fans conceded that the Springboks, in their famous green and gold jerseys, were worthy winners of the gilded trophy, the second time they have done so.
The traditional podium celebrations turned into a rainbow theater as a smiling President Mbeki armed with the Webb Ellis Cup was lifted high on the shoulders of the Springbok players and officials. It was both emotion and symbolism of the highest order, as if to tell the world and the people at home that ‘United We Stand in Victory’.
Earlier, President Mbeki embraced his winning captain John Smit and coach Jake White, with their World Cup winning medals proudly dangling around their necks. For the moment, even the race politics of South African rugby were put on the backburner. The normally staid but articulate Springbok coach was lost for words. Choking with emotion, he could simply manage: “This is unbelievably very special.”
For England’s over-achievers this was a disappointing journey’s end. But, what a journey? No other team in the history of the World Cup has turned around its fortunes as England have after their humiliating 36-0 defeat against the Springboks in the group stage exactly 36 days ago.
Not even a message of support from Queen Elizabeth II and from that iconic British secret agent James Bond, aka 007 actor Daniel Craig, could inspire the potential history-makers of England to a successive World Cup triumph in back-to-back tournaments - a feat that would have been unparalleled. The English media may have a license to hype and banter, but on the field the English players soon found out they have no divine license to win.
“I am very proud of my players. It is very disappointing for them to lose. They put everything in to this match, but they got no reward for it. We have lost nothing. It is just that the South Africans were better than us on the day,” stressed Brian Ashton, the head coach of England.
Instead it was South Africa’s destiny’s men who took fate into their own hands. Jake White, assisted by former Wallaby coach Eddie Jones, drilled into the Springbok psyche that it is ‘Defense, Defense, Defense’ that win world cup finals. And what a defense it was. For Jones this was a benign revenge for the defeat that Martin Johnson’s team imposed on the Wallabies in 2003.
Usually in defeat, there is no consolation. The faces of the English players and fans, who included British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Princes William and Harry, said it all - disbelief, disconsolation, disappointment, but always with dignity. This is what makes rugby stand out against the other global sports, especially football. Wilkinson remained tall in defeat: “It is very disappointing. But I have great respect for them (the South Africans). Well done.”
But my message to England is “don’t be sad; be proud.” England over-achieved beyond expectations. Perhaps the inner belief that drove them to triumph over the Wallabies and Les Bleus, was not enough. Perhaps this was a game too far. But, in the modern game, let alone the World Cup final, you cannot afford to give away repeated turnovers from lineouts and easy penalties because of basic errors. It is no surprise that Victor Matfield, the giant Springbok lock, won the ‘the man of the match’ award. He out-jumped and out-manoeuvred Ben Kay and Simon Shaw, time and again poaching the ball on the England throw-in. Percy Montgomery and the precocious Francois Steyn may have won the match with their goal kicking, but it was Matfield and his lineout compatriot Bakkies Botha and the unnerving Springbok defense that laid the foundation for this deserved victory.
The much talked-about English front five had no answer, as Springbok prop forward Os du Randt and CJ van der Linde comfortably contained powerhouse Andrew Sheridan and Phil Vickery, the English captain. England, despite pressing ahead, looked predictable and pedantic, playing with very little imagination and creativity.
What was encouraging for both sides is the emergence and maturing of the two youngest players on the park - 20 year old Francois Steyn, the South African center who has a prodigious boot to boot; and his counterpart, 22 year old Matthew Tait. This augurs well for the future of both Springbok and English rugby.
Tait and Steyn made the only decent breaks in a match dominated by tight forward play and tit-for-tat kicking, where the Springboks dominated with the back-row trio of Juan Smith, Schalk Burger and Danie Roussouw immense. Tait’s darting break early in the second-half, nearly led to an England try by winger Mark Cueto, who actually grounded the ball over the South African tryline in the left hand corner, but was ruled in touch by the third official, the television replay adjudicator, as Fourie du Preez put in a desperate try-saving tackle. Three Percy Montgomery penalties to one from Jonny Wilkinson saw South Africa take the lead 9-3 at the break. England went desperately close to a try through Mark Cueto soon after half-time before a penalty apiece made it 12-6. Francois Steyn extended the lead with a long-range penalty and South Africa held out to match their 1995 triumph. Montgomery emerged as the top scorer in the tournament with over a hundred points. Bryan Habana, the South African human cheetah, on the other hand, never got a chance to beat Jonah Lomu’s try tally for a World Cup. The match simply was not an expansive one. As such chances were meagre. At least the 23-year-old Habana equalled Lomu’s record, and will surely be a starter for New Zealand 2011, the venue for the next rugby World Cup.
Despite the fact that all the points came from the boot on both sides, the match was befitting of a worthy final. England were never going to give up the fight and they attacked with increasing abandon, but their inability to control their own ball at the line-out and the breakdown ultimately cost them dear.
Every time a white shirt hurled itself at South Africa it was enveloped by a tide of green as the Springboks joined Australia as two-time world champions.
