How do England beat South Africa in the World Cup final?
England go head to head with South Africa in Yokohama on Sunday with the World Cup trophy on the line – but where will the game be won and lost?
Here is an assessment of South Africa’s fixtures over the last 12 months and the areas in which Eddie Jones’ men must look to exert pressure.
Weather the storm
For the semi-final, the order of the day was to hit New Zealand hard and early – and England obliged thanks to Manu Tuilagi’s second-minute try, the eighth time in 12 months they have scored in the first three minutes of a game.
South Africa, though, have been resilient in the early stages – only four times in the last year have they conceded a try in the first 20 minutes.
Seven of the 17 they have conceded have come in the 20 minutes leading up to half-time, while they have also conceded three tries and eight penalties (out of 29 in total) from the 65th minute onwards.
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The Springboks have won 11 out of 15 games in that time, but the eight in which they have conceded in the final quarter-hour include their three defeats and the 16-16 draw with New Zealand.
The others were three-point wins over France and in last week’s semi-final against Wales, a 24-18 win over Argentina – courtesy of two penalties after Pablo Matera’s 65th-minute try levelled the scores – and just one relatively comfortable win, 35-17 against Australia.
Twelve years on from the 2007 final in Paris that England lost to South Africa, winger Mark Cueto still insists his disallowed try was a legitimate scorehttps://t.co/DTBv2NpgGl
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 29, 2019
It will be vital, then, for England to stand up to the physical challenge and play right to the gong at the end of each half.
Happily, Jones’ side have scored 17 tries, six penalties and a drop goal from the 65th minute onwards in 18 Tests, including 10 tries in the final five minutes of games.
Curry too hot for the Boks?
Of the tries conceded by South Africa in those games, seven have been scored by opposing forwards and 10 by backs, with a wide spread of positions within that – leaving no obvious main weakness.
One blindside and two openside flankers have crossed against the Boks and England have had success from those positions, with three tries from number six and four from number seven in the last year.
Tom Curry has scored three of those while operating in both positions and is set to start at six in Yokohama looking to cap a fantastic tournament on a personal level.
‘If you’re sat at a table and one bloke says it, it is actually the other people at the table who will say, mate, that is not okay, that is not where the game is now’
– @RachaelBurf12 of @HarlequinsWomen and @BurfAcademy on how World Cup changed attitudeshttps://t.co/xH4g4kmljz— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 30, 2019
Two hookers have also crossed against the Boks – offering even more encouragement for England, whose hookers have combined for nine tries in the past year.
With four of those coming from replacements, it could be set up for the fresh legs of Luke Cowan-Dickie to add another late score against the Boks. The Exeter man has five tries in his last nine caps, despite starting only three times, and has scored after coming off the bench against both Tonga and Argentina in this tournament.
Among the backs, South Africa have conceded tries to every spot from fly-half back to full-back – but with both wing positions and outside centre registering multiple scores, England’s Jonny May, Anthony Watson and Manu Tuilagi will be eager to add to their prolific records.
– Press Association
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Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments