Analysis: One of the most painful defeats in the history of the New Zealand game will sting for a long time, writes Patrick McKendry in Paris.
The rain poured in Paris the day after the All Blacks saw their World Cup dream go down the drain. The wind also blew and, while the clocks didn’t stop in sympathy, they did go back one hour as the nation prepares for what is likely to be a long and dark winter.
Meanwhile, a New Zealand summer awaits those All Blacks and management returning home. Not all will stay for its entirety – Sam Whitelock will do a quick visit before packing his bags and returning to play in the south of France, with Aaron Smith, Richie Mo’unga and Brodie Retallick heading to the land of the rising sun.
And as they all contemplate the small margins involved in their 12-11 defeat to South Africa at the Stade de France, as tough and agonising a loss as they would ever have experienced, it’s difficult to know which will sting the most.
Was it Jordie Barrett’s chip kick that bounced away rather than into the arms of Ardie Savea metres from the Boks tryline in the first half? Or was it Richie Mo’unga dropping a pass with an overlap on the left in the second?
Maybe it will be Mo’unga’s missed conversion from near the sideline or Jordie Barrett’s missed penalty from long range? Should they have taken the lineout instead and gone for a pushover maul against a Boks team clinging on by the slenderest of threads?
1News' Andrew Saville spoke to Burger on the red carpet at the World Rugby Awards. (Source: Breakfast)
What about Wayne Barnes awarding a penalty against Savea for not releasing the tackled Duane Vermeulen as he turned over the ball but then apologising to the All Blacks stand-in captain once he saw a replay? Many observers halfway up the grandstand could see that what Savea had attempted was legal. Why couldn’t Barnes or his assistants?
Handre Pollard kicked the penalty of course but there was no recompense or advice from a television match official who overruled Barnes on Aaron Smith’s try due to an earlier knock-on that Barnes saw and cleared.
Would it be Vermeulen’s turnover penalty when he clearly and illegally laid a hand on the ground and was therefore not supporting his body weight?
No, surely it would be TMO Tom Foley deciding Sam Cane’s high tackle was a red card offence and South Africa skipper’s Siya Kolisi’s was only worthy of a yellow. And how and why didn't the eagle-eyed Foley see Eben Etzebeth's forearm to the face of Ethan de Groot?
They were all factors, of course, all moments contributing to one of the most heart-breaking defeats in New Zealand rugby history.
Barnes didn’t have a great game but neither did Will Jordan, the All Blacks wing hoping to break the men’s record for tries at a World Cup. He was clearly trying, but probably a bit too hard. Jordan, only 25, can look back on his achievements here with pride, as can all of his teammates.
Besides, every player made a mistake of some sort in the most intense and gripping World Cup final since the All Blacks beat France by a single point at Eden Park in 2011.
The upshot of it all is that Foster didn’t secure the ultimate coaching comeback and the opportunity to send a two-fingered salute to the New Zealand Rugby board.
And there was no storybook finish for Whitelock, Retallick and Smith, three of the finest players to wear the black jersey.
There was only bitter disappointment and there were only questions, some of which will rightly focus on the TMO and his influence on the game yesterday and in the future. Those are the questions World Rugby may want to think about themselves at some point once their bigwigs are fully rested after their swanky and self-congratulatory awards evening in Paris 24 hours after the final.
It should be remembered, too, though, that not only did South Africa defend their title, they also did it the hard way.
A case could be made that their 2019 success in Japan was a Rugby World Cup equivalent of a gimme tap-in putt given they made the final against England after beating the hosts and Wales (neither nation modern-day rugby giants) in the quarterfinal and semifinal respectively.
Here they had to beat France and then England in the toughest of knockout matches, winning both by one point before doing it again against what was officially the second-best team in the world.
Another thing to remember is that this tournament should probably have been held in South Africa – that was the official recommendation made to World Rugby, only for the inevitable horse trading and politics to interfere and dictate that it would be held in France.
They are worthy champions, and, significantly, appear a team utterly unbothered by self-doubt or the irrelevance of questions.
The answer, of course, and for the next four years at least, is South Africa.
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