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South Africa concede their first ever World Cup final try
By Josh Raisey
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
in other news, South Africa becomes the 1st 4-time champion and the second team to win back-to-back
It’s actually 340 minutes.
What a non story…
Off a forward pass to boot! Barnes owed NZ one from 2007 so all square now.
Wow, just wow.
That is making history 🤣🤣🤣
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.