20.10.2007

South Africa 15, England 6 in Paris (World Cup, Final)

South Africa won by 9 points. I predicted England by 5.

Reviews

The 2007 Rugby World Cup is awarded to South Africa. Congratulations. Most pundits predicted South Africa to win.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7052822.stm

http://sport.independent.co.uk/rugby_union/world_cup_news/article3082034.ece

http://sport.independent.co.uk/rugby_union/world_cup_news/article3081830.ece

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/rugbyworldcup2007/story/0,,2196213,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=7

Previews

The intensity of this match will exceed that of the semi finals. This is it for both teams. Years and months of preparation ends with this match.

For England they have the chance of being the first team to win back-to-back world cups. This is the team that was slammed by the media, including myself, before and during the cup. Frankly, they deserved it. England has played awful rugby since winning the cup in 2003. They continued this pattern right up to and into this world cup. The fact that Jonny Wilkinson has played very little rugby for England since 2003 has been significant given the team’s turnaround since he came back on the scene for the match v Samoa. Since then England has regained the strength and passion that saw them succeed at the 2003 world cup.

South Africa has also improved dramatically over the last year. They were another awful unit during their November northern tour last year. Even England defeated them and most of South Africa bayed for Jake White’s blood. He very nearly lost his job. Since then South Africa has grown in strength and now they face old foes England in the final.

http://www.england-rugby.com/englandrugby/index.cfm?fuseaction=News.News_Detail&storyid=17957

http://www.sarugby.net/default.asp?des=article&id=232773

Match Data Sheet

Iron Fist Data