Jack Rowell, England manager, says South Africa's tenacity in the tackle won over the world
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.TENSE and tight, this World Cup final was an epic encounter. It was the first time that the younger All Blacks have been under any pressure here, and it told. However, what won South Africa the match was the fact that the All Blacks weren't allowed to play their superior running game and they ended up going across the field at times. While this was a credit both to their desire to run and to South Africa's ability to close them down, the point was that Lomu and the rest of them didn't get the room to play.
As fast as New Zealand went, South Africa kept up with them and put their big tackles in. If anyone got past, he was quickly closed down. Jonah Lomu was still pretty effective, as New Zealand sometimes used him as a decoy. James Small, his marker, was beaten now and again, but he just jumped up and got in there again.
South Africa haven't played a great deal of scintillating rugby in this tournament, but they have been very effective. They put the same tight squeeze on the New Zealanders that they did on Australia in the opening game. They are united in their desire to win and are very good at stopping teams playing. In beating Ireland, Wales, Scotland and then England, the All Blacks found space in which to play. Yesterday, what little space they got was immediately closed down. It was a fascinating encounter between two teams from the southern hemisphere playing at a different pace from northern hemisphere countries.
This may have been the first match in this World Cup in which no tries were scored, but, apart from the games when New Zealand have cut loose, most of the other games in the tournament have been pretty dour, with defences coming out on top.
There were many performances to admire yesterday: Joost van der Westhuizen was exceptional and Joel Stransky directed the game well, his kicking from the hand was excellent. Behind them, Andre Joubert, a wonderful player with such a tight defence, had a great game, and I thought that Chester Williams looked particularly sharp. But really, it was the collectivity of the South African pack which won them the game and, with it, the World Cup. Rowell's world XV 15 Andre Joubert (SA) 14 Jeff Wilson (NZ) 13 Jason Little (Aus) 12 Frank Bunce (NZ) 11 Jonah Lomu (NZ) 10 Andrew Mehrtens (NZ) 9 Joost van der Westhuizen (SA) 1 Colin Dowd (NZ) 2 Sean Fitzpatrick (NZ) 3 Olo Brown (NZ) 4 Mark Andrews (SA) 5 Martin Bayfield (Eng) 6 Ben Clarke (Eng) 7 Josh Kronfeld (NZ) 8 Zinzan Brooke (NZ)
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments