And South Africa, are the champions of the World! South Africa have won the Rugby World Cup! They're on top of the World! It's all over! The William Webb Ellis trophy returns to South Africa!
Well, for the 1st time since 2007, South Africa (Although Dad was backing our old foe the Springboks in the final against England as well as Pops because the English have beaten us in our tragic semifinal flop therefore we missed out on a golden opportunity for a historic three peat) have done it, winning their 3rd Rugby World Cup title (And that is the 3rd time that they have won the Rugby World Cup along with the All Blacks (We 1st won it in 1987 then 24 years later in 2011 & successfully defended the World Cup in 2015) after previously winning the 1995 & 2007 tournaments) after comprehensively beating England (Who had to lose tight head prop Kyle Sinckler in the process after 3 minutes & copping his English teammate, Maro Itoje's elbow straight to Sinckler's head so Sinckler had to go off for an HIA (Head Injury Assesment) meaning that he won't be back on the field as he was being replaced by reserve tight head prop Dan Cole which proved to be the turning point of the final as South Africa began to really dominate despite shrugging off some injury problems caused by hooker Bongi Mbonambi (Head knock) & second rower Lood de Jager (Broken shoulder) but both Mbonambi & de Jager had to be replaced by Malcolm Marx & Franco Mostert respectively) in an epic Rugby World Cup final (South African first five Handre Pollard scored 22 points while both wingers Makazole Mapimpi & Cheslin Kolbe were the try scorers (Although at one point Makazole Mapimpi's try might have been ruled out because of an apparent forward pass that French referee Jerome Garces missed (And the English fans aren't happy at all about that forward pass which went unnoticed by the ref as well as the assistant referees & the TMO) & of course, man of the match went to number 8 Duane Vermeulen who had a superb game) at International Stadium Yokohama in Japan (They did an excellent job of hosting the tournament, they'll be really pleased despite the 3 cancelled games due to the effects of the typhoon but the next major sporting event is the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo next year), so here is the match commentary provided from Newshub (And that'll be the 1st time that I'll be providing match commentary not involving the All Blacks):
Kia ora, good evening and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the Rugby World Cup final from Yokohama Stadium.
South Africa: 1-Tendai Mtawarira, 2-Bongi Mbonambi, 3-Frans Malherbe, 4-Eben Etzebeth, 5-Lood de Jager, 6-Siya Kolisi (captain), 7-Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8-Duane Vermeulen, 9-Faf de Klerk, 10-Handre Pollard, 11-Makazole Mapimpi, 12-Damian de Allende, 13-Lukhanyo Am, 14-Cheslin Kolbe, 15-Willie le Roux.
Reserves: 16-Malcolm Marx, 17-Steven Kitshoff, 18-Vincent Koch, 19-RG Snyman, 20-Franco Mostert, 21-Francois Louw, 22-Herschel Jantjies, 23-Frans Steyn.
England: 1-Mako Vunipola, 2-Jamie George, 3-Kyle Sinckler, 4-Maro Itoje, 5-Courtney Lawes, 6-Tom Curry, 7-Sam Underhill, 8-Billy Vunipola, 9-Ben Youngs, 10-George Ford, 11-Jonny May, 12-Owen Farrell (capt), 13-Manu Tuilagi, 14-Anthony Watson, 15-Elliot Daly.
Reserves: 16-Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17-Joe Marler, 18-Dan Cole, 19-George Kruis, 20-Mark Wilson, 21-Ben Spencer, 22-Henry Slade, 23-Jonathan Joseph.
9:55 PM: Both sides are in the tunnel, preparing for the biggest games of their careers.
9:58 PM: Anthems now, wow, the crowd are loud, mostly English by the looks/sounds.
9:59 PM: The first time since 2007 we won't see the Haka in the final.
1ST MINUTE: Kickoff here for the final time in Japan.
PENALTY MISS: Swing low echos around the stadium as South Africa win a penalty at the breakdown, kick at field to come. It's wide.
3RD MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Sinckler is knocked out in the tackle and is laying on the ground - Garces blows the whistle, he wont be back by the looks. Massive loss for the English, massive loss. He goes for the tackle and cops an arm to the head from his teammate Itoje.
SUBSTITUTION: Sinckler is walking off the park on his own, great to see - but he wont be back.
4TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: From the scrum and South Africa win the penalty after a massive push, South Africa play on.
5TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Advantage over, England gather and run it from their own goal line, they clear.
6TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SCRUM: Really nice attack from South Africa, nice play from Pollard who chases and gathers his own kick, le Roux knocks the ball on, England scrum.
9TH MINUTE (3 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY GOAL: Massive work from the South African forwards, England opt to run the ball in their own 22 - Vermeulen wins the penalty, England 0 - 3 South Africa.
10TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Box kick from de Klerk, like a broken record for South Africa.
11TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Youngs comes up with a big error, throws the pill over everyone and it's out.
12TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SCRUM: A double knock on there, South Africa have the scrum feed.
14TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Another box kick from de Klerk and England play South Africa's game, but good defence gets England a lineout in a good position.
15TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Dusty lineout from George and England knock it on, they look a different team to the one which beat the All Blacks.
17TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: Dominance from South Africa at scrum time, they win a penalty and kick for touch.
19TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: Another box kick and Daly takes the catch and clears through Youngs, a block from South Africa and England will kick for touch.
21ST MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: England attack and attack but can't find a way through, they do well at the breakdown and win the penalty - Farrell points to the posts.
SUBSTITUTION: Shocking from ref Garces who doesn't stop the play when Bongi Mbonambi is laying on the floor with a head knock, horrible. Marx is on.
Lood de Jager is down too, shoulder seems to have popped out.
23RD MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY GOAL: Farrell takes the shot at goal and it's good. England 3 - 3 South Africa.
24TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SCRUM: England knock the ball on from the kick off, good chance for South Africa here.
25TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL: Dominant scrum again from South Africa, they win another penalty, they will kick for the three. England 3 - 6 South Africa.
27TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Another perfect kick from de Klerk, got the pill on a string now.
Mistake from Ford, they are guilty of trying to play South Africa's game a little, he kicks it out on the full.
28TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Knock on from South Africa, Am is the man and de Klerk gives away a penalty.
34TH MINUTE (6 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY GOAL: England under advantage throw absolutely everything at the South African's but they cant find a way through - this defence is well up for it here. England win a penalty and will kick for the points. It's good England 6 - 6 South Africa.
36TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY GOAL: South Africa look to start an attack, they shift left and win a penalty. Pollard will kick for the three. It's good. England 6 - 9 South Africa.
40TH MINUTE (4 MINUTES LATER), SCRUM: South Africa pick and choose their attack and Am makes a break, he puts in a kick and wins a scrum after a Daly knock on.
41ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL: From the scrum, South Africa win another penalty and will kick for three. It's good. England 6 - 12 South Africa.
HALF TIME.
41ST MINUTE: Back underway.
42ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Lots of kicking to start the second half, South Africa continue to look to play without the ball.
44TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): England look to force the ball there, South African defence is relentless, England throw the ball out, South Africa lineout.
SUBSTITUTION: The big substitution here from South Africa, the two props are off and replaced by Steven Kitshoff and Vincent Koch.
45TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL: Their first impact is a penalty at scrum time. Penalty won, kick to come. It's good. England 6 - 15 South Africa.
47TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: Maul called, and the South African forwards just collapse the ball and win a scrum, which is basically a penalty.
48TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Much better at scrum time from England, but South Africa win their sixth penalty of the match at scrum time, they kick for touch.
49TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Turnover won by England at the lineout, Itoje is the man to do it.
50TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL: Massive scrum from England and they blow through South Africa there. Huge. They take the kick, it's good. England 9 - 15 South Africa.
53RD MINUTE (3 MINUTES LATER): South Africa go to the air again, Daly does well to take the kick.
PENALTY MISS: Pollard is tackled and absolutely swallowed, Curry makes the turnover, like he has all season. They will kick for three. It's wide.
56TH MINUTE (3 MINUTES LATER): Amazing from South Africa, they go blind, le Roux puts in a remarkable kick, Daly clears but it's only 20 metres.
57TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL: Wow, South Africa go left and there's the whole forward pack waiting, they win a penalty from the maul and Pollard will kick for three. It's good. England 9 - 18 South Africa.
58TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL: From the kickoff, England win a penalty, not too sure why - Marx is called for wrong entry. It's good. England 12 - 18 South Africa.
60TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Great kick from Youngs, Vermeulen catches the bomb and is tackled out. England lineout.
62ND MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): A battle of kicks here, South Africa win the penalty after Watson obstructs Makazole Mapimpi. South Africa will kick for three. It's short from 53m.
64TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), SCRUM: Pollard puts up another bomb and once again, Mapimpi gets up over Daly to win a scrum.
66TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), TRY SOUTH AFRICA & CONVERSION: Perfection from South Africa, they go blind side and Mapimpi puts a kick in for Am, he gets the bounce and finds Mapimpi on the outside for a try. Kick is good. England 12 - 25 South Africa.
68TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), SCRUM: Kolbe goes for the intercept try but he can't quite catch it, England win the scrum feed.
70TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), SCRUM: Knock on from England as they charge to the corner, heroic defence from South Africa once again, Watson knocks it on.
72ND MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Another massive kick from de Klerk, perfect boxy.
73RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Knock on from Daly and Steyn kicks, that is game over in my book.
74TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY SOUTH AFRICA & CONVERSION: What a way to finish off this game, Kolbe makes Farrell look like an absolute mug, he beats three defenders and the little man scores! Kick is good. England 12 - 32 South Africa.
77TH MINUTE (3 MINUTES LATER), SCRUM: England have the ball now, 80m from their line, knock on from Tuilagi, South Africa scrum 10m out.
78TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Pollard goes for a drop goal, it's wide, but it's all over - just two minutes left!
80TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): That's it, South Africa kick the ball out and the party has started for the Springboks! Flawless execution.
FULL TIME!
ENGLAND 12 - 32 SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH AFRICA 32 (Cheslin Kolbe, Makazole Mapimpi tries Handre Pollard 2 cons 6 pens)
ENGLAND 12 (Owen Farrell 4 pens) AT INTERNATIONAL STADIUM YOKOHAMA
And now onto the awards ceremony as England receive their runner-up medals (Although some English players have refused to put the silver medals on their necks) and then it is the Springboks time to shine as they collect the prize winning medals (Well, South Africa have deserved it as the true winners of the 2019 Rugby World Cup) before His Imperial Highness The Crown Prince Of Japan is to present the trophy to Siya Kolisi as he is about to lift the William Webb Ellis Trophy, and THE WORLD CUP!! IS BACK IN SOUTH AFRICA'S HANDS!!! But so many players in the squad (All 31 of them including 2 injured players and the coach Rassie Erasmus) have the opportunity of a lifetime to touch the trophy, but now on behalf of all to you, as the Springboks will defend the cup in France 2023.
And my last thoughts after the 2019 Rugby World Cup? The Rugby World Cup is South Africa's Cup! ¡Viva la Bokke! (Long live the Bokke).
So that is my 332nd blog of the year 2019 (MMXIX) & my 72nd of this year.
P.S. And we have just heard at the rugby awards that try of the year went to All Black halfback TJ Perenara for his sensational rugby league style acrobatic try against Namibia in the pool games while team of the year was indeed South Africa for completing the rare Rugby Championship & Rugby World Cup double (1st time ever since 2003 that England had won both the Six Nations & Rugby World Cup) in the same year & finally, player of the year went to South African blindside flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit who has now officially taken over from Jonathan Sexton as the best rugby player in the world (And don't forget that the coach of the year award goes to Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus because now that South Africa have literally owned 2019) while the breakthrough player of the year award goes to a Frenchman who is the son of French rugby great Emile, Romain Ntamack.
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