South Africa crowned a memorable year for rugby by beating England 15-6 in the final of the World Cup, a gripping tournament in which flair and flamboyance took a back seat to brawn and the boot.
Panache might have been largely replaced by pragmatism, but the rugby remained compelling in the IRB’s well-attended 20-team showpiece tournament that was a credit to the organisers.
Tri-Nations champions and pre-tournament favourites New Zealand bowed out at the quarterfinal, beaten 20-18 by France in Cardiff, the competition hosts forced to play the tie in Wales after losing to Argentina in the opening game.
France, who earlier in the year won a fourth Six Nations Championship title in six years on points from Ireland, were nipped 14-9 by England in the semifinals, while South Africa overcame a spirited Fiji in the quarters and Argentina in the last four.
For the Springboks, the final win over England ensured a second world title to add to their first win on home soil in 1995.
South Africa’s victory could have implications beyond the sports field with pressure mounting to see more than the two black players who featured in the 2007 final starting line-up when the next tournament rolls round in New Zealand in 2011.
After two sign-off games against Wales and the Barbarians, the latter lost 22-5, coach Jake White stepped down after the Boks administrators had advertised his job during the six-week-long World Cup.
Percy Montgomery, who kicked 12 of the Boks’ points in the final, was the tournament’s top scorer while flying winger Bryan Habana equalled Jonah Lomu’s World Cup record of eight tries.
The inquest into the All Blacks’ failure to clinch a first World Cup since they won the inaugural tournament in 1987, was brutal.
Coach Graham Henry was forced to re-apply for his job, which he was re-awarded after firmly blaming English referee Wayne Barnes for their elimination at French hands.
The inexperienced official failed to award a single penalty against France in the second half of the Cardiff quarterfinal. The Kiwi coaching staff argued that Barnes and his touch judges missed 17 French indiscretions.
Barnes also sin binned inside centre Luke McAlister in the first half, leading to the first French try, and then crucially failed to rule on a clear forward pass for France’s second.
England showed the All Blacks that hard work has its rewards.
Written off as too old and too one-dimensional, Brian Ashton’s defending champions were down and almost out after losing 36-0 to the Springboks in the pool stages.
But buoyed by a fit Jonny Wilkinson and a pack of grizzled forwards who didn’t take insults lightly, they came back to knock out Australia and France.
England’s undoing was their lack of penetration amongst their backs: in their last three matches they registered just one try.
It was a memorable tournament for Argentina, who beat France for third place and made an irresistible case for inclusion in the Six Nations or Tri-Nations after years of banging on the door.
They were unbeaten in the group stages, seeing off France and Ireland, and then put Scotland out in the last eight to reach their first semifinal before becoming unstuck against the Springboks.
The Pacific island sides, of which Fiji were the outstanding competitors, were also left pleading for more exposure to the international scene if they were to keep thriving.
And a final word for the minnows, who performed admirably against more professional rivals. Georgia went down 14-12 to Ireland in the pool stages as the Irish avoided what would have been the biggest upset in world rugby.
Jake White aside, a raft of other coaches also stepped down after the World Cup: France’s Bernard Laporte become a junior government minister, Argentina’s Marcelo Loffreda joined Leicester, and Australia’s John Connolly retired.
Gareth Jenkins paid for Wales’ failure to reach the quarterfinals with the sack and was replaced by former Wasps and Ireland coach Warren Gatland of New Zealand.
Another Kiwi, Robbie Deans, smarting from missing out on the All Blacks job, took over at the Wallabies.
In club competition, Wasps beat English rivals Leicester 25-9 to win the European Cup.
The Super 14 was won by the Northern Bulls, who beat the Coastal Sharks 20-19, in the tournament’s first all-South African final.
With hindsight, that was a fair indicator of true form going into the World Cup. – Sapa-AFP