New Zealand v South Africa LIVE: Rugby World Cup final score and result as Springboks beat All Blacks in Paris
The Springboks won a historic fourth Rugby World Cup with a tense one-point victory over the All Blacks in Paris
South Africa hung on to beat New Zealand in a tense 2023 Rugby World Cup final at the Stade de France in Paris, and in doing so they became the first men’s side to win the tournament for a fourth time.
The All Blacks entered the contest as slight favourites following a comprehensive 44-6 victory against Argentina, while the Springboks reached Saturday’s showpiece event after a last-minute penalty secured them a narrow 16-15 win over England.
South Africa’s Bongi Mbonambi suffered a nightmare start to the match as a knee injury forced the hooker off after only four minutes, four years after he lasted only 20 minutes in the 2019 World Cup final. New Zealand’s Shannon Frizell was shown a yellow card for causing Mbonambi’s injury, but worse was to come for the All Blacks when captain Sam Cane was sent off for a dangerous tackle on the Springboks’ Jesse Kriel, and South Africa led 12-6 at half-time.
A Beauden Barrett try pulled New Zealand back to within one point of their rivals, but the All Blacks couldn’t find anything more, and they went down 12-11 as the Springboks retained their crown.
Follow all the reaction from the final below.
South Africa defeat New Zealand to win the Rugby World Cup
South Africa’s Pieter-Steph du Toit was given the Player of the Match award for his impressive 28 tackles and deteminism to keep New Zealand at bay.
He said: "It's been an honour and a privilege, it was tough, each one a final, each one by one point. As a team we like drama, the last few years, I think it shows the resilience of the team.
"For all of South Africa, we’re honoured to play for the Springboks, we want to thank everybody for supporting us. 64 million South Africans are supporting us."
South Africa defeat New Zealand to win the Rugby World Cup
South Africa defeat New Zealand to win the Rugby World Cup
South Africa won their quarter-final, semi-final and now the World Cup final all by a single point.
That is crazy isn’t it? Has their ever been a better or closer run to a World Cup triumph? It probably will never happen again.
South Africa defeat New Zealand to win the Rugby World Cup
The Springboks are back-to-back World Cup champions. They’ve edged all three knockout matches by just one point. They becomea the first team to win four World Cups.
South Africa have never lost a World Cup final and by the barest of margins, they get over the line once again.
Full-time! New Zealand 11-12 South Africa
80+1 minutes: There it is! South Africa hold on and win the Rugby World Cup for a record fourth time!
New Zealand 11-12 South Africa
80 minutes: Kwagga Smith makes a steal for South Africa before Kriel kicks the ball away.
The All Blacks run it back with McKenzie throwing a step and getting into space. Savea receives it and tries to throw the offload but the ball goes forward.
South Africa scrum. This should be it...
New Zealand 11-12 South Africa
78 minutes: The All Blacks get into space with Papal’i breaking into stride on the wing but the big flanker is expertly tap tackled by the covering Faf de Klerk.
This is so tense.
New Zealand 11-12 South Africa
77 minutes: Pieter-Steph du Toit catches an offload and comes down the left wing before getting hit. He sends the ball back to Faf de Klerk who fumbles it and gives New Zealand a scrum, deep in their own half.
This will take some doing to get the ball up the pitch.
Three minutes to go.
New Zealand 11-12 South Africa
74 minutes: Jordie Barrett leathers his boot through the ball for the penalty and has the range but the accuracy isn’t there. He pushes the kick wide to the left and New Zealand remain behind in the game.
Six minutes to play. Both teams have 14 players on the pitch now.
New Zealand 11-12 South Africa
73 minutes: This could be a game changer. Cheslin Kolbe is flagged by the TMO as performing a deliberate knock on to stop the All Blacks flying down the wing and potentially getting a try.
Kolbe is shown as yellow card and his final is over. New Zealand win a penalty and are going to kick for goal. This is a long, long way out though.
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