Henry Browne – World Rugby\/World Rugby via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n\u201cWe needed some energy, that’s why we decided to bring on the bench,\u201d Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber said. “We’re fortunate that there isn’t much difference between the guys starting and the guys on the bench. We needed energy and they brought it.”<\/p>\n
The final scrum penalty came in the 78th minute. Ellis Genge was the player penalized by referee Ben O’Keeffe; Jamie George protested the decision, saying Vincent Koch had taken a stand, but the decision stood. Pollard lined up the penalty about 48 yards out, stepped forward and was already heading back to his posts before the ball reached his peak height. He knew it was passing, knew it was a one-point advantage and knew they had to refocus for England’s final assault. \u201cI had no doubt that this was going to end,\u201d Siya Kolisi said.<\/p>\n
England threw everything at the Boks, as they had done all match, but this time they failed to find the field or take the penalty. As the full-time whistle blew, tensions boiled over, a brawl ensued, but then the splash of red roses and Boks exhilaration took over.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe performance from the whole team was strong,\u201d Borthwick said. “We came here with a plan to win the game, and we fell short. We are desperately disappointed but the players should be incredibly proud of what they did.”<\/p>\n
It was too tense a match to really enjoy. It was one of those occasions where you could feel your heart vibrating in your chest. It was intense \u2013 the opposite of Friday’s semi-final \u2013 where every forward, turnover, scrum seemed crucial.<\/p>\n\nSouth Africa captain Siya Kolisi and England captain Owen Farrell share a hug after their teams played a dramatic Rugby World Cup 2023 semi-final in Paris. David Rogers\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\nThe conditions were appalling, with rain swirling around the Stade de France, caught by the wind and barely given a chance to settle. England arrived with a simple, but brilliantly effective, game plan of targeting the turnover ball out of their kicking game and their ascendancy on set pieces. It worked. The Boks looked rattled for much of the first 40, with England dominating the set piece, winning all three scrums, Maro Itoje ahead of Eben Etzebeth in the lineout and the team generally playing effective rugby. It was enough to give them a 12-6 lead at half-time with a monumental field, Freddie Steward dominating the sky, and Jonny May and Elliot Daly sending anything and everything back in England’s direction on the flanks.<\/p>\n
The second half started in much the same way, with Farrell scoring a magnificent drop from just inside the halfway line in the 53rd minute – a drop worthy of any World Cup match – but the Boks were showing signs of life.<\/p>\n
The Springboks were dominated for around an hour, but it was their substitutes who swung this match in their favor. Each made the required impact, including the bold decision to hook Manie Libbok after just 31 minutes, replacing him with the experienced Pollard. Pollard brought much more control to their game, where Libbok’s kicks were everywhere. Faf de Klerk came on early in the second half, Willie Le Roux after 44 minutes and each played a narrow role in halting England’s momentum.<\/p>\n
And then came the changes to the front row which then gave the Boks the platform to launch their winning journey into the English half. RG Snyman’s 69th-minute try came after the third of four scrum penalties, giving the Boks a chance to secure a key lineout just meters from the England line. It was his volume that was enough to break England’s resolve, but then came Pollard’s coup de grace two minutes from time.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, the scrum penalty, that\u2019s what gave us the opportunity,\u201d Pollard said. “It was just an honor for them, they were incredible, it was a great moment but that’s what you want as a player on that stage, to experience moments like that as a halfback. openness, that’s what you live for. It was fun.”<\/p>\n
It was a match highlighting once again the remarkable self-belief of the Boks and their complete faith in the system they have in place. Just like in 2019, South Africa found a way to win the tightest of matches \u2013 struggling to cross the finish line in the final moments to ensure progress, and the losing team wondering how all this happened exactly.<\/p>\n\n\u201cIt took us a while to understand that,\u201d Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber said. “I think that’s probably the strength of this team, they find a way, even if we don’t pay well, they find a way to get the result. It took them 70 minutes to get a foothold in the game. They refuse to give up and they fought until the end – they are very proud of it.”<\/p>\n
For England, they must now get off the canvas and prepare to face Argentina on Friday in the bronze medal match. This will sting for a while. This will be some players’ last tournament in an England shirt, for others they will use the injury as motivation for the next four years. \u201cWe came here to win a game and get to the Rugby World Cup final,\u201d Borthwick said. “In adversity, there is a seed there that can be something brilliant in the future. At the moment, it is too early to find that seed. We will make sure to find it – we will take it, and we will seize it and make sure it makes us stronger in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really ugly today, but that\u2019s what champions are made of,\u201d Kolisi said at full-time. The All Blacks will have a plan in place, as will the Boks. It’s going to be at the box office. The Springboks are playing in another final and have a chance to win their fourth Men’s World Cup. It\u2019s a remarkable feat and a testament to the entire system they\u2019ve built. Whichever players wear the jerseys, they have this inner conviction that is impossible to quantify or replicate.<\/p>\n<\/photo4.><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Springboks’ self-belief, Bomb Squad shine through in semifinal\u060c Tom Hamilton, lead writerOctober 21, 2023, 11:20 p.m. Close \u2022 Joined ESPN in 2011\u2022 Covered two Olympic Games, two Rugby World Cups and two British and Irish Lions tours\u2022 Former rugby editor, then senior editor in 2018 PARIS, France — The match ended in a brawl, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3128,3127,2770,1535,1656,1259],"class_list":["post-3460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","tag-bomb","tag-selfbelief","tag-semifinal","tag-shine","tag-springboks","tag-squad"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3462,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3460\/revisions\/3462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}