Handre Pollard broke English hearts on Saturday as he landed a 49m penalty three minutes from time to book South Africa’s place in the Rugby World Cup final as they edged England 16-15 at the Stade de France.
The Springboks trailed from the second minute when Owen Farrell landed the first of his four penalties, but a late surge from the defending champions, which included a try from R.G. Snyman, as well as Pollard’s enormous match-winning kick, saw them into a fourth final where they are to meet their old rivals New Zealand.
“I think they put us under pressure in exactly the right areas, but jeez the fight we showed, never giving up, it is what we stand for as a team and as a nation,” Pollard said.
Photo: Reuters
Farrell was extremely proud of his teammates, but also gracious in defeat.
“I am unbelievably proud of this group and what they have done over this past few months together,” he said. “It has not all gone our way as everybody knows, we have had everything thrown at us — it has been a roller-coaster.”
“Credit to them [the Springboks] fighting their way back into it and finding a way to win at the end,” Farrell said.
With England leading 15-6 after dominating and controlling play for the first 70 minutes of the game, South Africa grabbed a lifeline with Snyman’s try. After kicking a penalty to the corner, Snyman rose to collect the line-out ball and was then on hand when it came back to him to power through three England tacklers and crash over for the try.
Pollard, who had been brought on after just 30 minutes for a misfiring Manie Libbok, made no mistake to reduce the gap to just two points with 10 minutes to play.
Three minutes from time, England were penalized for collapsing the scrum by New Zealand referee Ben O’Keeffe, who also whistled the Springboks’ one-point win last week over France. From just in front of halfway Pollard coolly fired the ball between the posts to put the ’Boks in front for the first time.
Victory takes the holders through to their fourth final on Saturday when either they or the All Blacks are to become the first team to notch up four World Cup wins.
The All Blacks swept Argentina aside with ease to get to the final and have scored a competition-leading 325 points.
“We’ll have to come up with a plan,” Pollard said. “They’re really playing an explosive game, punishing teams from all over the park. We’ll have to do homework for that.”
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