South Africa victorious
Sun Oct 21 08:30AM
Finally, after six weeks and 51 games we came down to the final game at Stade de France last night. Not the final that anyone would have predicted or expected but the two teams who deserved to be there. Today I watched the sea of white arrive in Paris, they were everywhere. Sprinkled through the sea of white were large pockets of green, small numbers of Gold and black, die hard supporters who lost their teams earlier in the piece but who stayed on to celebrate what this tournament was all about. Today felt a bit like groundhog day, taking me back to the 14th of September, a replay of their first encounter where South Africa embarrassed the English by 36 points to zero and where Jason Robinson bravely represented England before leaving the field with a hamstring injury.
I arrived early at the stadium to do a speaking engagement with American Express and the atmosphere was building from very early in the evening. There were huge numbers of England supporters and they dominated the 80,430 fans that had turned out to watch this spectacle.
The game started with a lot of intensity and huge physical presence from both sides. The forward pack encounter was as expected and did not disappoint. The England pack is one of the strengths of the side but South Africa really stepped up and at times dominated the English. The English looked to be in the game from the beginning and put a lot of pressure on the South Africans deep in their territory.
The first half of the game was so tight, each side defending majestically but neither crossing the white line. Fourie de Preez and Francois Steyn made some big breaks through the middle but South Africa were unable to finish it off and take the points. Burger was prominent in the breakdowns disrupting the English play and turning over ball which was crucial to the South African cause. Victor Matfield was an inspirational second rower who did not stop tackling, pushing in mauls and being in the space when needed. He showed the reason why he was chosen as Man of the Match.
Very rarely did the ball make it out to the winger Brian Habana and when the moments did come they were foiled either by a big tackle or by the ball falling through his hands. This was a traditional hard-fought match - one for the purists of the game - and although I'm sure some will say it was boring it was one of the hardest battles in this World Cup. With tactical kicking, rucking and mauling the South Africans battled through the field to come within inches of the tryline but the tireless defence of the English came through and denied them the seven points, although South Africa secured three through Percy Montgomery's boot. Defence and kicking dominated this game with Montgomery kicking all but three of the Springboks' points and always the cool customer under the high balls.
For me there were several players who deserve a mention. Os du Randt, the cornerstone of South African rugby, put in a massive effort completing the 80 minutes, the quiet achiever of the team going about his job and always in position to prop up a fellow player or putting in the big hits when needed. Fourie Du Preez, who for me is one of the standout players of this tournament. He has consistently turned up in each match, directing the South African team like a general at the back of the pack, knowing when to run it when to hold it tight, when to pass it - he is a class act.
South Africa join Australia as the team who have won the World Cup twice, once in 1995 when they beat my team in the final in Johannesburg and now 12 years later led by their inspirational captain John Smit. He led from the front and strategically guided his team to this win. Aside from the near England try South Africa never really looked rattled and their defence was outstanding. Congratulations to the whole South African squad and their supporters.
Congratulations to England, although you came up slightly short in the final you can hold your heads high. Having won the cup in 2003 the English had terrible form coming into this World Cup and proved all their critics wrong by standing out there last night as the defending champions of the World Cup in the final again in 2007. You should be proud.
I've really enjoyed writing this blog and I hope you've all enjoyed reading it. This World Cup has been fantastic, the French here embraced me as their own and I have been really fortunate to be here for the last eight weeks. It's been a roller coaster of emotions, teams with so much promise who under-delivered, teams fighting beyond their weight, and new heroes of World rugby emerging at this World Cup. A big thank you to everyone who has made the trip so amazing there are too many of you to name but I am sincerely grateful to each and everyone one of you. See you in 2011. Jonah
LIKES: It was fantastic to see three Presidents standing side by side to celebrate what is the greatest game on this earth.
MY STANDOUT TEAM: Argentina - they were fantastic and bought so much passion and life to this World Cup and coming third in the competition was a great end to their campaign.
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IM this storyRugby is such a beautiful game, even if the final wasn't very spectacular; but you can't blame the teams for trying to win and the struggle they had last night is a part of the game too. If someone doesn't like this, maybe needs to watch another sport. Congratulations to both teams and especially for the winners and congratulations to you, Jonah Lomu for this blog. You are not only a great rugby player, you are an example of fair play.
From elsimiro on Sun Oct 21 09:28AMThank you for your articles and commentary throughout the World Cup they were brilliant! Thankfully the (far) stronger of the two teams won, I felt that England thoroughly deserved to not be in the final due to the abyssmal quality of their games. Hopefully there will (soon) come a day when only 1 point will be awarded for a penalty and this will spur the all the teams to play for tries.
From lorecon73 on Sun Oct 21 10:20AMYes, you are a true diplomat of the game Jonah. South Africa deserved their win. It was boring rugby, kicking the ball but I totally agree with Lorecon that penalties should be worth only 1 point to promote running with the ball and not to kick the ball all the time.England didn't deserve to be there in the final I think any person watching the cup would agree because they just kicked the ball.
From tmarshall48 on Sun Oct 21 10:57AMYeah i enjoyed watching the match greatly and felt there were some very good runs made by both sides however, i found the english comentating unbearable when at one point the comentaor said that an english player was wrong to appologise after pushing percy montgomery into the signs, hopefully for the next world cup there will be an interactive option to switch commentary, to allow a fair vew of the game
From sovietsean on Sun Oct 21 11:54AMEngland did n't deserve to be in the final!!! Do me a favour,free flowing rugby did nt get N Z or Australia very far! You play to your strengths,which England did superbly,fair play to the Boks they won,but if it was nt for cueto's "no try"who knows!
From jeg.hartley on Sun Oct 21 11:56AMA hard fought battle to the end, and at the end of the day the best team won. Brilliant comments made throughout by one of the games greatest ever players (Jonah) and brilliant non- partial coverage from all concerned. THE LIONS WILL BE BACK!!
From drewmoffett on Sun Oct 21 12:16PMEngland didn't deserve to be in finale??? rubbish, if it was just kicing that got us there why didn't the boks forwards run through ours and who crossed the try line?, (if it takes 5 mins to watch a video to decide a try,.. i think it sais it all!!) unlucky lads it wasnt our night you did us all proud and ill always regard you all as champs for both finales. With great respect Wayne
From w.smith_treetops on Sun Oct 21 12:25PMExcellent Work Jonah... thanks
From gettingquite on Sun Oct 21 01:49PMJeg hartley you must have watched completley different games if you think England deservred to be there!!! Come on and don't be like Eddie Butler and admit it was a fluke. NZ had to play with horrible grey colours and in Cardiff! I thought it was supposed to be in France!
From tmarshall48 on Sun Oct 21 02:01PMWell done for your comments! The Boks deserve the win....England just not "there ..yet!"..sorry England...Johnny-be-good"....not this time...try again...you were not too bad!
From ivanrooyen on Sun Oct 21 04:12PMin truth, by taking into account the performances of the two teams on their road to the final, it was south africa who deserved to be in the final. england's performance in the group stages was nothing more than mediocre and if it weren't for australia, new zealand and france coming up short, then they wouldn't have got as far as they did. england are a one man team in wilko- without him they struggle, as proved when they lost to SA in the 36-0 beating. the best team won and this was the better world cup tournament than 2003, not because of the performances of SA, but there were so many surprises and shocks that nobody came to expect as well as great play. well done to the springboks though
From wchngliu on Sun Oct 21 04:16PMThe 'try', if awarded, would have been worth 5 points; England got 3 anyway, from the penalty awarded from the play. That's 2 points, folks. Jonny is not going to make them all from the corner. S.A. won by 9!
A great game- SA won; move onFrom leonhelf on Sun Oct 21 05:19PMTotally agree the Pumas were fantastic.
From christophercjw on Sun Oct 21 09:17PMHow can anyone criticise England in this World Cup? South Africa have strength and height and are great in the line - out but they were also meant to be brilliant in the backs. Brian Habanna and the rest of the back-line didn't get a sniff thanks to England's dogged determination. England did deserve to be there in the final because that's where they ended up and what a journey after that 36-0 drubbing. You'd have to be a moron not to salute the virtues the English showed when after three years of negativity, bad form, retirements, injuries etc they reached the final again. I think it's time we took a much longer look at the New Zealanders and ask why - when in my opinion they have been the best team in the world for about the last 20-30 years they've only won the World Cup once. So don't talk to me about England not deserving to be there - it's more than a great deal of other teams managed. I actually think English rugby will be back big style when Brian Ashton has all his young speedsters integrated into the side for 2011 with hopefully quality forwards to replace the heroes of this world cup.
From joe417 on Sun Oct 21 09:43PMEngland thoroughly deserved their place in the final. Anyone who has played and appreciates rugby will know just what sheer guts it takes for a team which lacked the talent of some others to achieve the results England did. They had opportunities to beat South Africa but the best team in the tournament and the world prevailed. Well done South Africa you are worthy champions and well done to England for a commendable defence of your title.
BarryFrom barry.lonergan on Sun Oct 21 11:28PMEven though Ireland under-performed and went out early, I have enjoyed the World Cup overall thanks to some great games, Fiji v Wales, South Africa v Tonga France v New Zealand (Sorry Jonah!) to name a few. I'm glad South Africa won as they have looked the best thru-out and and half of their team are geniune contenders for Player Of The Tournament which in my view was Habana. Your blog Jonah has been great and have enjoyed reading it immensely. It would have been even better had you been playing but you delivered such views and thoughts that are as equally powerful as you can play!!!!! Pity we have wait 4 years for another one but I'll finish with this last comment - THE BOYS IN GREEN WILL BE BACK
From silverbullet_fc on Mon Oct 22 12:48AMVery exciting game. Well done to ''the Bokke''.
Just a thoughy to share, I think the tell tales are there that the smaller teams are a force to be reckoned with. I honestly think Southern-hemisphere rugby needs to be spice up, re-establish a new tournament including rugby nations such as Tonga, Fuji and Argentina.
The tri-nations is an inbreeding of skills and has proven to be detrimental to skill development and exposure to world rugby. Personally I would love to see more of these smaller rugby nations play rugby, they bring flair and passion to the game, the play for the love of rugby and pride of their country. The world will loose or yet never even get introduced to those rugby heroes amongst the smaller countries. Let rugby take a new step forward and show us what these incredible teams can do, let new heroes be born. DO IT FOR THE GAME.
From sarelcoetzer on Mon Oct 22 06:49AMI am fed up with people saying England didnt deserve to be in the final!!! We won our games and earned the right to play, if any other team has a problem with that then maybe they should have won their games and made it through!!!
Well done to SA , the better team won on the day . England came up just a little too short this time but we'll be back.
From neil1872 on Mon Oct 22 09:02AMWell done SA. Not quite good enough ENG. For those whose complain that England kicked their way to the final, SA won by kicking. Well done again SA worthy World Champions
From tonywooffitt on Mon Oct 22 02:00PMwell done springboks - the boers beating the bores! such a pity that government involvement is going to destroy such a great team, such a great sport - Go Bokke!
From gary639 on Mon Oct 22 05:11PMLook... England IS boring. Not unlike their soccer team. They stepped up their game, though, and DESERVED to be in the finals by defeating better sides (at least on paper.) As for the call/non call on Cueto, the bottom line is this... if you are having difficulties winning line-outs (esp. on your OWN throw), then you pretty much deserve to lose. You can't win by letting the other team treat kicks as long runs, or, dare I say, the equiv. of a long pass on the gridiron. Well done, BOKS!!! TITLE WELL DESERVED!!!
From trjc7896 on Mon Oct 22 09:04PMThanks for all your time and effort, it has been a pleasure to read someone who is not a "Hack" and writes from the heart, the World Cup has been better for your blog - good luck mate and I look forward to reading you agin all the best and thanks again - Rob
From mckayrob on Tue Oct 23 06:55AMboring corporate blog
From muppetts on Tue Oct 23 02:59PMBesides the final (hectic but boring and tryless) the best game was the day before in wich the Pumas showed that there´s value on the 3rd place match.
Thank you Jonah an Yahoo Sports for this blog, it´s been great and very educational. Saludos desde Argentina
From criskamman on Tue Oct 23 07:33PMJonah - thanks for the objective and knowledgeable articles. It was a tense final played by two talented and determined teams (in spite of your childish jibes ‘ivanrooyen’
, and both sides can be proud of themselves. The 'try' was not given and there is simply no point is asking what might have been. We had our share of good fortune in some of the earlier games and should accept it with good grace. SA thoroughly deserved their win in the end.tmarshall - it's obvious which country you're from but I'm not sure which planet. You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. As Jonah said, both teams made it to the final on merit, and just because your team didn't make it doesn't make anybody else's style of rugby less worthy. Most of us would accept that NZ have been the best team in the world over the past 4 years, but they fell short of what is required to win this RWC and we shouldn’t go changing the rules of the game just to suit you/them. Console yourself by blaming it on those "horrible grey colours" or the fact that you had to play in Cardiff (?), but please don't regale us with any more of your puerile remarks.
From unclehector2000 on Wed Oct 24 10:31AMVery informative, objective and fair. Also your comments about Paris and things other than rugby were interesting. Keep up the good work in future years.
From jdereckjeffers on Wed Oct 24 07:51PMNot much point in allowing 26 comments if you can only see the first ten of them chaps! Where's the 'Next' button????
From unclehector2000 on Thu Oct 25 09:15AMThanks for the blog Jonah, i have really enjoyed reading it and good luck in the future. As for some of the people that are writing below, south africa were the better side in the final and i have no problems agreeing that they deserved there win but to blast England for playing to their strenghts??? They got to the final by simply wanting it more than any of the other sides in the comp and playing to their strenghts. They do not have the attacking flair of the Kiwis or the french or even the Australians so to expect them to try and play that way and in a world cup and get hammered is a joke! Well done boys you did us proud!
From adamfarrands2004 on Thu Oct 25 01:56PMThe records will show that SA faced England in the final, however, I believe that only one team out of the two deserved to be there! It should've been a Southern hemisphere final and I believe that England fans got what they deserved, great expectations and a huge let down. Problem is, not only did their team let themselves down, they let their country down, they let every rugby playing nations fans down and they let the organization that is the rugby world cup, down. What more can one say? Football?
From immediate123 on Fri Oct 26 06:50PMIt was a good game, not blessed with exciting handlig and expansive rugby, and South Africa deserved their victory. It was also wonderful to see the genuine mixed-race celebrations in South Africa together with the obvious togethernes of the South African team members irrespective of colour. So' congratulations to South Africa for winning..... but we all know that the best rugby team in the world is New Zealand.. bad luck All Blacks... please get your act together next time. You are so inventive , innovative, creative, exciting.....it's ridiculous that you did not win this World Cup.
From billfx.thomson on Sat Oct 27 11:53PM
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