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New Zealand made their way to a second successive Rugby World Cup final after beating South Africa 20-18 in trying conditions at Twickenham. The defending champions are now into their fourth final, their second away from home since South Africa in 1995.
New Zealand scored two tries in comparison to South Africa who largely relied on their kicking game and scored six penalties and that was enough to see them through in the end.
Flanker Jerome Kaino and replacement back Beauden Barrett scored the two tries for the champs while Handre Pollard was responsible for five of the six penalties with his replacement Pat Lambie adding the other.
Despite having much of both possession and territory in what was as expected a tight and physical game, New Zealand had to be patient and were made to grind it out for the win and endure a nerve-wracking last 10 minutes. Fly-half Dan Carter kicked 10 points to complete what was in the end a well-deserved victory for the All Blacks.
This was always going to be a tight game, as most games between these two in the last few years have been and this was no different. While in the quarters we got to see the All Blacks at their destructive best, here it was their forwards and defence helping out their continuous attacking pressure in the face of unrelenting South African defence that won the game for them. The Boks known for their physical play, with their big ball handlers wreaking havoc, relentlessly pursued that approach and turned the match into a slugfest and it looked for a while that it may just bring them that final berth.
The All Blacks however persevered in the end after coming through their sternest examination of the tournament.
Pollard’s four penalties had given the Springboks a 12-7 lead at half-time. Famous for their fight backs though, New Zealand took control of the game in the second half with another one. The entire team looked determined after having not made the most of their opportunities in the first half.
The All Blacks had the majority of the play in the first half and scored an early try even through Kaino in the seventh minute, shortly after Pollard had opened the scoring to give South Africa the lead. Kaino collected a nice basketball-loop pass from Richie McCaw to beat Lode De Jaeger’s tackle and touchdown at the right corner flag.
Any hopes though of that opening the gates were firmly extinguished as the Springboks defended magnificently to frustrate their opponents. They spent much of the game pegged back in their own half by the All Blacks, but wave after wave of attack was met with a South African wall. To rub it in, the few opportunities they got in New Zealand territory, they took advantage of and the All Black’s indiscipline saw them concede a glut of penalties that Pollard promptly converted.
The All Blacks weren’t just down on the scoreboard going into half-time, they were also down a man thanks to Kaino being sin-binned for a deliberate offside just before the interval. Despite that the champions rallied and launched an intense period of pressure for about 20 minutes where they led siege to the South African goal. That led to a drop-goal from Carter within the first five minutes and in the 52nd minute, they got their second try of the game when Ma’aNonu found Barrett in the left hand corner to run in for the touchdown and quickly they had reclaimed the lead. Carter added the conversion to make it 17-12 to the champions.
A double whammy it was for South Africa as not only did their defence finally give way, but they also lost winger Bryan Habana who was sin-binned for knocking the ball away intentionally. Pollard kept them close with another penalty, but that good work was undone quickly when off the very next play the Springboks conceded a penalty to the All Blacks which Carter once again converted to put them ahead 20-15 going into the last 25 minutes.
The physical effort had by now started to take a toll on the Boks as a number of their stalwarts started going down with injuries. The likes of Pollard, EbenEtzebeth, DeJager all suffered.
South Africa tried to rally one last time, but despite Lambie’s penalty bringing them to within two, the All Blacks kept them at bay with some excellent defence and ball retention and keeping them pinned in their own half.
South Africa will play in the bronze medal match on Friday while New Zealand move onto their fourth final on Saturday.
They have won two of the previous three so far, both of them coming at home though. So, if they do go on to win, it is going to be more than one first.
