South Africa will face the All Blacks in the World Cup final after fighting back to beat England 16-15 in a semifinal that couldn’t have been any more different to the one at the Stade de France a night earlier.
Handre Pollard’s penalty with four minutes remaining from nearly 50m sealed it. It was the first time the world champions had led in the match they appeared odds-on to lose after going into self-destruction mode almost from the first minute.
The match was played out in a seething, angry atmosphere, with only one try scored – the Boks getting over the line late in the match via replacement lock RG Snyman. The two teams had to be separated at the final whistle as frustrations spilled over.
England were in charge for three quarters of the match but the trouble for them was they couldn’t afford to pack down a scrum in the second half because it was an automatic penalty, the Boks owning them in that set piece. That their final points came from a scrum penalty would have surprised precisely no one.
It meant England’s low-risk game plan became no-risk and they utterly refused to use their backline for more than chasing high kicks until the final few minutes when they had no choice. In the end it was all too late. Clearly hoping for a penalty at the dying minutes, they instead meekly knocked the ball on.
It means the final next Sunday will be a repeat of the 1995 World Cup final won by South Africa. The current champions remain on track for back to back titles and their fourth in total. New Zealand will win their fourth if successful.
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster, who 24 hours earlier after his side thrashed Argentina 44-6 said he would watch this match with a little popcorn, will have noted how physical the contest was and how the Boks appeared short of ideas on attack. On this evidence, he won’t be too unhappy.
Snyman's try with 12 minutes to go changed the complexion of the match. Before that it was as though South Africa had run into a version of themselves that was more organised, more connected, and dare one say it, committed and aggressive.
They could get nothing to work because the England defence was a white wall coming at them at pace. It was brutal. Veteran Eben Etzebeth, booed to the heavens by the crowd, was smashed over. So was flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit.
For England, loose forwards Ben Earl and Tom Curry were having the games of their lives. In the second half, fullback Freddie Steward shone as he chased everything with the persistence of a terrier.
Everyone knows the bully doesn’t like a taste of his own medicine, and the English were shovelling it down their opponents with grim determination.
The Boks lost three lineouts in the first half – two not straight and one stolen. So confident of their lineout drive they kicked their first attacking penalties to the England corner and set about mauling to the line only to go backwards at what for them would have been a disturbing rate of knots.
Perhaps Rassie Erasmus’ infamous traffic light system had short circuited.
Manie Libbok kicked the next one over the bar to cut the deficit to 6-3, but so out of sorts was the Boks’ No.10, that he was dragged after 31 minutes for Handre Pollard, a recent arrival to the squad as an injury replacement for hooker Malcolm Marx.
It is important to note that this was a match played out in a spiteful atmosphere. The France supporters in the crowd, angry at the way New Zealand referee Ben O’Keeffe controlled their team’s quarter-final defeat to South Africa a week ago, booed O’Keeffe mercilessly.
Not traditionally huge supporters of England, they appeared to grudgingly switch allegiances to the men in white at the expense of South Africa, but not too much. They seemed to want chaos, and that is what they got.
O’Keeffe was forced to separate the two teams midway through the first half for several differences of opinion, and, to howls from the crowd, awarded South Africa a penalty.
Later, he penalised England again and marched them back 10m after Owen Farrell appeared to say something the official didn’t like. More boos.
Among it all, very little rugby broke out. In the steady drizzle, neither team had any thoughts about running the ball, both preferring to hoist it high and hope for the best.
Halfback Faf de Klerk was on after halftime, with veteran fullback Willie Le Roux on shortly after. Etzebeth made way for RG Snyman after 46 minutes. Remarkably, skipper Siya Kolisi and fellow loose forward Duane Vermeulen were dragged after 51.
Farrell’s dropped goal from 45m after 53 minutes represented the first points of the second half.
It was also England's last.
South Africa looked shaken but they dragged their way back. On this evidence, next Sunday's final will be a battle of very different styles.
South Africa 16 (RG Snyman try; Manie Libbok pen, Handre Pollard 2 pens, con)
England 15 (Owen Farrell 4 pens, dropped goal)
Halftime: 12-6
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