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Springboks overcome 14-man All Blacks to defend World Cup title
By Finn Morton
Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus and captain Siya Kolisi can rightfully take their place on the throne of rugby gods after delivering a record fourth World Cup title to the Rainbow Nation.
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After winning the Rugby World Cup for the third time in 2019, the defending champions have gone back-to-back after beating the All Blacks 12-11 at Stade de France in Saturday’s World Cup final.
The All Blacks played most of the Test with 14 men after a red card to captain Sam Cane, and while the New Zealanders had opportunities to snatch the crown, it wasn’t to be.
The Springboks are the 2023 Rugby World Cup champions.
With rain trickling down from the heavens at Stade de France, both teams grouped into their own huddles mere moments before the opening whistle.
This was it. For both the Springboks and All Blacks, this was their opportunity to immortalise themselves into Rugby World Cup history as champions.
There was a palpable sense of nervousness, anticipation and excitement as New Zealand fullback Beauden Barrett kicked off the Test. After seven weeks and 47 games, the final was here.
But disaster struck almost immediately for the All Blacks. Shannon Frizell was sent to the sin bin after just two-and-a-half minutes of play.
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An anxious eight minutes followed as the incident went under review, and while the flanker avoided an unimaginable red card, it didn’t aid the All Blacks’ cause for a fourth crown.
Springboks playmaker Handre Pollard converted two penalties as the defending World Cup champions raced out a hard-fought six-nil lead before Frizell returned to the field.
The All Blacks had their backs against the ropes. South Africa were playing with passion, skill and confidence as the New Zealanders failed to show much during the first 15 minutes.
But a team like the All Blacks is more than capable of deploying a damaging counter-punch, and they came within inches of doing just that.
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Playing with an advantage, a clever Jordie Barrett chip-kick found the deck inside the Springboks’ 22, and it also paid off as backrower Ardie Savea fought after the ball in desperation. But the opportunity to score alluded the Player of the Year nominee – but only just.
Back to the advantage, the All Blacks as flyhalf Richie Mo’unga knocked over the All Blacks’ first shot at goal for the night.
Chants of ‘All Blacks, All Blacks, All Blacks’ erupted in a pocket of the stadium as the New Zealanders set-up to receive the kick-off, but the Boks were up for the fight once again.
Moments after turning over the ball, referee Wayne Barnes awarded another penalty in the Springboks’ favour. Pollard added another three to their lead from long-range.
The next eight minutes were far from uneventful, but no points were scored. New Zealand threw everything at the Boks but the 2019 champions stood firm in defence.
But then the match took another turn. All Blacks captain Sam Cane was sent to the sin bin under review, and that incident was later upgraded to a red card.
It was the first red card in men’s Rugby World Cup final history.
Pollard and Mo’unga traded penalty goals as the Springboks carried a tense six-point lead into the break. It was anyone’s game, but the All Blacks were up against it.
In another stunning twist, Springboks captain Siya Kolisi was sent to the sin bin – under review – for a high shot just four minutes into the half, but this remained a yellow.
The All Blacks almost made the most of it, too, with Richie Mo’unga setting up veteran Aaron Smith for what appeared to be a try. New Zealand – yes, the country – must’ve gone berserk.
But referee Barnes called the play back for an earlier infringement. No try was scored but the All Blacks had a penalty.
Fans let out a chorus of boos and cheers as referee Barnes made that call official.
The All Blacks continued to pester the Springboks’ try line after being awarded a series of penalties, and eventually, it paid off. Jordie Barrett threw a miracle cut-out pass to Mark Tele’a out wide, which led to brother Beauden Barrett scoring moments later.
Mo’unga missed the conversion but the All Blacks were back in the fight.
With just one point separating the teams, New Zealand looked the more threatening but they weren’t able to land a killer blow as the final entered a tense final quarter.
Whether they were filled with confidence, fear or a combination of the two, fans found it impossible to look away as the Test headed towards an ending fit for a final.
More chants of ‘All Blacks, All Blacks’ echoed throughout the Parisian venue as Springboks fans, quite uncharacteristically, sat in silence.
Knockout
11 - 12
Final
6 - 44
SF1
15 - 16
SF2
17 - 29
QF1
24 - 28
QF2
30 - 24
QF3
28 - 29
QF4
The clock continued to tick by. Tick, tock, tick, tock – but no points were scored. But the All Blacks mounted an impressive-looking counter-attack that ended up having a big say on the Test.
Wing Cheslin Kolbe was sent to the sin bin for knocking the ball down and the All Blacks were awarded a penalty. Jordie Barrett lined up a shot at goal.
But he missed.
The Springboks held on for that little bit longer. Only five minutes remained.
Eventually, It came down to one scrum. The Springboks held on and the Springboks, rightfully, celebrated in an incredible state of euphoria.
For the first time ever, the Springboks had gone back-to-back.
And with that, the 2023 Rugby World Cup was over. At the end of the tournament’s 48th Test, South Africa have beaten New Zealand in a thrilling final at Stade de France.
The world was in union.
The rugby laws clearly state that a review by the TMO for any knock on, forward pass etc can only go back two phases. The try by the All Blacks half back was quashed because there was a knock on by an All Black player at the previous line out before the try was scored. The knock on was queried by the South African players after it occurred to the referee. The referee replied not once but three times “No knock on “ and the play carried on and the try was scored not two but FIVE PHASES later by the All Blacks.
My question is : Why did the TMO intervene AFTER the try was scored and not any earlier. It is obvious to me that the people officiating the games (referee and TMO) failed to apply the law and hence it became a farce. By right the All Blacks are the true winners of the Rugby World Cup 2023. It’s very said that my favourite sport has become a farce due to all the law changes and officials being unable to interpret and apply the rules during play and hence give wrong rulings that alter the outcome of play. So sad
Frizell’s yellow should have been upgraded to a red for deliberately targeting the Bok hooker’s knee and neck, with the intent of weakening the Boks. The ABs plan worked and SA lost one of their weapons - the lineout.
Next they targeted a backline player, stupidly with a high shot, to force SA to use their only backline reserve early. That plan failed.
If they had stuck to playing rugby, they might have taken this one.
England spent the whole world cup playing the style they hoped would win them a semi: and it nearly did. But what if England had made the final, on another wet day????? Just sayin’
As a Bok Supporter - ABs lost because of 1 reason and 1 reason only…. The name of your team “All Blacks”. If there’s anything that Saffas have the remedy for it’s All Black or Darkness. We have been dealing with load-shedding for over 20yrs now. We know how to operate in Dark Places. If your name had been The Kiwi’s or anything else, “Bill” would’ve been in NZ today….. Just Kidding…. great game in the start, but unfortunately devolved into a card affair and then it’s almost a lottery (that said don’t know of anyone that won’t take a lotto win). RC will come round soon enough and we’ll have to contend with Razor (that’s a scary thought for any Bok fan). I think as a purist I would have wanted for a better game, but a W is a W and I can’t really complain. ABs vs Boks is always a close game and that’s great, however another Big W for me is that Ireland, England and France can also be close/tight games. I hope that this RWC ushers in the golden era of Rugby union where international games (between top 6 teams) can go either way and do. That’s great for the game. Commiserations to the ABs I know you’ll be back and to all the Bokke fans pinch yourself again so you realize and it sets in that yes indeed it is really 4 times now !
Firstly I am a Springbok supporter who emigrated to live in Australia and the All Blacks are my second favourite team. Some comments after looking at some which preceded this. It is sad that some comments are nasty and vitriolic because rugby was the winner and neither side deserved to lose.
It is a massive disadvantage to play with 14 men but that was ruled according to the letter of the current laws. Siya’s tackle showed that he going in at a lower height so the yellow card was correct and was not upgraded to red.
We know that RWC are won by defences and not with attractive running rugby with tries. The ABs kicked for touch a few times instead of going for the kicks at the poles. Another costly miss was the 5 points with missed conversion by Mounga and penlty by Jordie Barrett. The ABs could have, should have but did’t win so that was due to the Boks defence and tenacity and their collective will to win for the nation as Siya said to give hope for the people and the country. The fact that the Boks won back to back RWC title, beat the British and Irish Lions can justify this team as one of if not the best team of all time.
Well - the day after. Massive congratulations to the Springboks and their fans. Wow, what an effort. I’d be happy to label that the most impressive world cup win ever, that was the toughest road to victory ever seen. They have been absolutely immense throughout the tournament and have proven again that this era of players know exactly what’s needed to win knockout rugby - well done!
The AB’s almost and could’ve won it despite the cards. But alas, it wasn’t to be - but jeez, the country is so proud of Cane, the boys and the coaching team for nearly getting there after being written by most before the tournament. That team did a literal 180 from where they were not long ago and at that level, is VERY hard to do. Some absolute warriors of NZ rugby leaving us too, they can stand proud of what they have given to All Black legacy they’ve built on.
As for Cane - he knows he messed up badly, and like he said, it’s something he’ll have to live with forever. I wont be ragging on the guy over it, what he’ll be going through is more than enough punishment. But the shift the boys then put in with 14 men, to almost nab it, wow, was nothing short of remarkable.
As for the game itself - what a dogs breakfast. If I was new to rugby I wouldn’t be coming back for more. Too many tiny technical rules applied to the absolute letter of the law, too many stoppages, too slow and hard to understand the intricacies that long time fans may appreciate.
Barnes didn’t have a good day and both teams got rough calls. There was zero consistency. At one stage, neither of them knew what they could do (or not do). They could hardly actually play the game because of the second guessing going on.
Two of the more notable bad calls for me were the forward pass before the AB’s try that was actually awarded and Ardie being penalised with full rights to the ball after the tackle. Instead, the Boks kick the 3. I’m not saying they determined the outcome - just bad calls, and there were others.
Did you notice the players were actually having to ask Barnes if it was ok to play or what they were allowed to do? Absolutely shameful. Despite not having a good day with the whistle, I actually think he was badly affected by the TMO in his ear overruling him repeatedly.
And I’m not blaming the TMO either - the rules that govern how they operate allow them self refer!! What a joke, they sit there trawling slow motion replays looking for any minor infraction to bring the play back to. The game cannot flow. The TMO should only be used if the ref asks for something to be looked at.
I’d love to know how much time we spent watching TMO replays compared to the actual game. And a captain’s challenge system needs to be brought in like the Cricket and NRL - if you’re right, you keep a challenge, wrong and you lose it.
Then there’s the card system. The NH would not adopt the findings of the successful trial the SH did. A red card, 20mins with a player off, not allowed to return but can then be replaced, restoring them team to 15. One players actions should not punish the whole team or the fans who paid handsomely to watch the game live.
World Rugby are ruining our sport as an entertainment spectacle and enabling negative rugby to become the dominant style that wins games. No, I’m not having a go at any particular country or team, because they are just playing to the rules and what they believe it takes to win under the rules.
But in my opinion, the game itself does not reward teams who want to do the most entertaining part of it, which is to run with the ball and score tries. William Webb Ellis didn’t pick up the ball to kick it away and tackle all game.
As the dust settles on the final I wonder what NZ supporters think of the performance with a day of perspective?
The cold fact is that yesterday saw a SA team who had two mammoth matches in their legs as well as the toughest pool win a final they really shouldn’t have had a right to win by virtue of the draw.
Yesterday Foster bizarrely blamed TMO Tom Foley for Cane’s Red and also appeared to blame him for the Series loss to Ireland.
Everybody knows the rules on head contact and the rules apply to everyone. If cards for head contact were an issue during the Ireland games in NZ then why on earth hasn’t Foster sorted it?
SA were always going to die on their shields but they were tired.
NZ had everything going for them. They had snatched the easier side of the draw from Ireland. Thebogey final ~ France in Paris was gone. They had a limping SA in the final and Foster somehow cocked it up.
I think when Foster’s finger pointing at Refs and Tom Foley etc. subsizes NZers will see yesterday’s result for what it was.
Huge kudos to SA for winning every close match (bar Ireland in the pool), But that one shouldn’t have been close.
honestly, as a Bokke-Supporter, I felt relief rather than victory the moment of the final whistle was blown …. and still feel that way, the morning after
we played ‘concrete’- rugby same way (albeight successful) as England played us in the SF ….
perhaps proof, how much respect we have towards the ABs, which even in this year's edition were the top attacking powerhouse
Congratulations to SA, you have a very good side and deserved to win the world cup through playing some good finals rugby.
Are SA the best team in the world? I don't think so honestly. The rub of the green definitely went their way.
Lost to Ireland, should have lost to England, only beat France by a Kolbe charge down after some fortunate tries from kick turnovers and beat a 14 man NZ by 1 point.
Well, I certainly did not want the game to devolve into a torrent of cards, but it is what it is.
Commiserations and massive respect for our New Zealand brothers - you fought with every sinew. A loss like that hurts but you can be proud of what your team has delivered over the last 12 months. The thought of Razor at the helm terrifies me - the AB machine will go from strength to strength. Spare a thought for Sam Cane - he needs support from all the fans. Now is not the time to crucify the guy, now is the time to empathize with him.
Props to my Boks for never giving up and simply refusing to be beaten even when not playing at their best. They did just what they needed to - win by one point.
This is a wonderful rivalry. Win or lose I always respect and admire the black jersey and those who wear it. It will hurt today, but come mid ‘24 you’ll be knocking lumps out of us as payback.
Lastly, I am glad this RWC is over. Some of the comments online have been pretty toxic - and I will cop up to having played my part in that. I’m going to try and be better. We all go nuts typing away in a red mist when we feel someone has disrespected our team. Let’s put the small d*ck energy to one side for a few hours and think back on all the good that came out of the tournament.