No one has won four men’s rugby world cup titles until now as South Africa’s Captain Siya Kolisi lifted the Webb Ellis Cup on Saturday night. It was definitely a night of firsts. The All Black’s captain, Sam Cane, would also go down in the history books, as the first player to be sent off with a red card in a World Cup final - not quite so happy a first.
Until the 27th minute, the teams had been pretty evenly matched with only penalties to divide them, and then disaster struck. Cane was sent off, first with a yellow card which was later revised to be a red card, for an upright tackle, leaving his team a man down, and captainless.
At half time, the score was 12-6 to the Springboks. It wasn’t looking good for the All Blacks. And yet, fortune was in their favour as, shortly after the break, Siya Kolisi was sent off for ten minutes with a yellow card for a high tackle. Both captains were now confined to the sidelines as their teams continued with the historic match without them, now evenly matched with 14 players for the next ten minutes.
The All Blacks did not miss this opportunity as they pushed for a try. Scrum-half Aaron Smith finally broke through the South African defence, skidding to victory. But it was not over yet. The ref jumped in with VAR, outlawing the try due to a knock-on by Savea in the buildup. The score remained stuck at 12-6. But the All Blacks refused to be crushed, as they surged forward once again, overcoming the South African defence to score a legal try with Beauden Barrett just before the hour. But they failed to convert it, leaving the score at a tense 12-11.
It truly was a clash of titans, the tension reaching boiling point in the stadium as both sides refused to back down. Jordie Barrett failed to put away a penalty, much to the Springboks delight, with just seven minutes to go, whilst South Africa’s Cheslin Kolbe was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock down.
The All Blacks pushed and pushed, but the Springboks refused to let up, as, with ten seconds to go, the match was decided by a final scrum. And South Africa got it, now able to bask in their ultimate glory as the most dominant rugby nation on earth (for now). It was not a clean or flawless game, but it was as compelling and as tense as you could get, right down to the very last second. Us lot in the Northern hemisphere sure have a lot of catching up to do.
