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South Africa concede their first ever World Cup final try

Beauden Barrett of New Zealand scores his team's first try during the Rugby World Cup Final match between New Zealand and South Africa at Stade de France on October 28, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

After 320 minutes across over three-and-a-half matches of action, South Africa have conceded their first ever World Cup final try.

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The All Blacks tried in 1995 and failed even with extra time, then England had two bites of the cherry in 2007 and 2019 and came up short both times. It has taken four matches for a side to finally cross the Springboks’ whitewash in a final, with the All Blacks’ fullback Beauden Barrett doing the honours at the Stade de France.

Even then the All Blacks made hard work of scoring the try, and barely came close to breaching the Boks’ defence throughout the entirety of the first-half as the reigning champions came out the blocks flying with the energy and aggression that they lacked the week before against England.

Video Spacer

Tendai Mtawarira previews the Springbok versus All Blacks World Cup Final

Video Spacer

Tendai Mtawarira previews the Springbok versus All Blacks World Cup Final

Barrett was in support to collect an offload from winger Mark Telea to dot down in the corner on 58 minutes following a period of sustained pressure on South Africa’s line for what was the first try of the match following an hour of penalties. The try made the score 12-11 to South Africa after Richie Mo’unga failed to convert the try.

The All Blacks thought they had scored their first try a few minutes before when Aaron Smith was on the end of a Mo’unga break, but the try was ruled out for a knock on at a maul beforehand.

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20 Comments
H
Hein 372 days ago

let’s be honest… Who was the best team on the day…? Probable the AB’s… But did they close it out? No. Did they make poor on-field decisions? Yes. Did anybody look at their respective stats…? SA played 17 tests in the last year winning 13. NZ played 16 winning 13. The penalty count was 5 to 10 in favour of the AB’s, but SA kicked 4/5 for posts and the AB’s only 3/10. Take the points on hand, guys. SA carried the ball 83 times. Savea and Telea carried the ball more that 30 times, just between the 2 of them. With Telea notching up 9 solid line breaks. The AB’s had the ball 50% or 23mins24secs more than SA. But did they use it profitably? No. Even territory, the AB’s dominated at 53%. But did they convert territory into points? No. But then “Why not?”… SA defended their own like crazy. SA made 209 tackles in 80mins against NZ’s 93… All these stats show that NZ should have won. But didn’t… Why not, you ask… Poor decision making on-field. Take the points on hand, guys. Kick at goal, guys. O, yes. Just a final comment. SA’s fourth penalty (and last kickable penalty) was in the 34th minute, following Cane’s yellow. SA defended that 12-6 lead for the next 46 minutes. During those 46 minutes, they were handed 2 yellow cards and penalized 6 times. Only, after 72mins, did Savea decided to go for posts again, following 5 preceding kickable penalties. You all cry about Cane’s yellow/red card… NZ racked up 5 yellows and 2 reds during the tournament. SA only 3 yellows, of which 2 came in the final. Rugby is a game of chances and SA took theirs. When SA lost to Ireland, we did not blame O’Keefe. We blamed Rassie and Libbok. We blamed our own poor performance. Look at the facts… The top 2 countries in the world have claimed the RWC 70% of the time. And when they face each other there will always be a winner/loser. Let’s keep it real and admit that no other country really has the ability to stop the ‘Boks or the AB’s. Only they can stop the other one.

s
strachan 372 days ago

Boks won by a point, they won the semi by a point, the quarter`s by one point, they just wanted to PROVE ONE POINT, We are the greatest rugby team of all time.

D
David 372 days ago

Did they though? Maybe it was gifted to avoid awarding a penalty try which would have been a straight 7 pointer, but whatever the reasoning the try was not a try. A gift from the ref perhaps but 100% not a valid or legal try. I wonder what the TMO was doing at that point? Busy trying to find a fault somewhere else? Trying to card Siya for a no head contact tackle that is then adjudged to be a head contact tackle…

None of which actually matters. Two sides went to war and one of them walked of the field of battle with a win - go Bokke, and well played ABs.

For us South Africans it is special. We have seen a divisive sport become inclusive and a symbol of apartheid become a symbol of unity.

J
Jon 373 days ago

in other news, South Africa becomes the 1st 4-time champion and the second team to win back-to-back

G
GrahamVF 373 days ago

It’s actually 340 minutes.

J
Jaks 373 days ago

What a non story…

J
James 373 days ago

Off a forward pass to boot! Barnes owed NZ one from 2007 so all square now.

M
Michael Röbbins (academic and writer extraordinair 373 days ago

Wow, just wow.

s
strachan 373 days ago

That is making history 🤣🤣🤣

M
Manie 373 days ago

I have to say congrats to Josh and his boss for publishing this article, capturing the absolute essence of the events that transpired tonight.

Tjom, if this is your key takeaway and what you spend intellectual time on to write and publish, I sincerely hope for your sake that Rugbypass will be there for another 30 years because no one else would pay for the garbage you spit out.

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Flankly 56 minutes ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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