Boks, and South Africa, on top of the world — again

The Springboks are on top of the rugby world but by a sliver.

They held on grimly in the closing minutes as they secured a record fourth Rugby World Cup title with a dogged 12-11 victory over New Zealand on Saturday.

It was a tight and tense final that jangled the nerves and will no doubt be fiercely debated over the coming days.

Despite a faltering line-out the Boks, with man-of-the-match Pieter-Steph du Toit firmly in the vanguard, excelled elsewhere to keep the menacing All Blacks at bay.

The scoreline might be low but it was a match high on octane and incident.

It was one of tight margins, and many errors and in the end there was precious little that separated the two heavyweights.

The Boks had the better of the opening half-hour and when All Black captain Sam Cane was shown a red card the advantage seemed to swing towards South Africa. Bok captain Siya Kolisi, many will argue, should perhaps also have had his yellow upgraded to a dreaded red.

New Zealand, however, deserve kudos for their remarkable resolve, having to operate a man down for 50 minutes against a Springbok team that kept smelling blood but who failed to deliver a carcass.

The rugby gods brought these sides together but the Springboks may well thank their Rain Queen for delivering conditions that restricted the normally slick All Blacks.

The wet conditions, though, contributed to the spectacle as it made for more thrills and spills than you might see in the Moulin Rouge.

Given their seven/one bench split, the Springboks were looking to rein the All Blacks in before suffocating them. They did not assemble their match-day squad with the intention of hanging it in the Louvre. They were hell-bent on going full Bastille on the All Blacks by caging them before breaking their resolve.

They largely succeeded in that mission.

The Boks were winning the big early collisions and were starting to build scoreboard pressure when the match was potentially set on a course from which the All Blacks would find it difficult to recover.

Cane was first shown yellow for a high hit on Jesse Kriel in the 29th minute. It was an opportunity for the Boks to build further scoreboard pressure. The Boks earned their fourth on the back of a well-timed Kolisi tackle.

As Handré Pollard lined up his kick, news came through from the bunker and it was stark for the All Blacks. Cane would not return.

To be fair, the tone for the first half was set early and it was the Boks who landed the more decisive blows.

Eben Etzebeth's thunderous hit on Richie Mo'unga drew a throaty roar from the stands. Moments earlier, however, in a far more impactful engagement, Shannon Frizell's neck roll on Bongi Mbonambi twisted the Bok hooker awkwardly. Mbonambi, the subject of much recent chat, appeared to be in immediate strife as he struggled to rise to his feet.

His early exit smacked of the premature departure of England prop Kyle Sinckler in the 2019 final.

The Boks had a much publicised forward-heavy bench but they did not bank on the deployment of Deon Fourie in the third minute. Sure it gave them mobility and dexterity on the deck, but raw power and sure hands at the line-out was what they craved. Crucially they were deprived the latter, robbing the Boks the opportunity to pile more misery on the All Blacks.

The Frizell dismissal handed the Boks the chance to grab an early lead and Pollard converted. With Frizell in the bin, the Boks tried to cash in while the going was good. Their maul came into play and it showed menace before it was shown touch but the ball got smuggled back before they earned a second kickable penalty. Pollard obliged.

Cane's dismissal threatened to put the match on a path of no return, but the All Blacks appeared to be emboldened by their skipper's dismissal.

If not for a last-gasp Kurt-Lee Arendse scramble tackle on Rieko Ioane, the team in black would almost immediately have been back in business.

Not long after the restart they were starting to assert themselves in aerial combat.

With uncertainty around the outcome of Kolisi's bunker review playing out in the background, the Boks appeared to delay pulling the pin on their Bomb Squad. They were already denied the spectacle of deploying all seven at once as they did in London, through Fourie's early introduction.

With the Bok line-out all showing signs of falling apart at the seams, the All Blacks opted to apply the heat in that area. Frizell made way for the Sam Whitelock to give New Zealand another aerial threat.

Sure enough, the All Blacks continued to rise in that area, denying the Boks a platform from which to launch, while on other occasions inviting unwanted pressure.

Faf de Klerk and Pollard continued to take good options for the Boks, but the All Blacks were far from just plugging holes.

A missed conversion by Jordie Barrett, then a missed penalty in the 74th, denied the All Blacks the opportunity to grab the lead.

In the end, the clash of the giants may not fully carry the result of undisputed champions for the flashpoints in this match will be long be debated.

Scorers

New Zealand (6) 11- Try: Beauden Barrett. Penalties: Richie Mo'unga (2).

South Africa (12) 12 — Penalties: Handré Pollard (4).