Strange things happen in finals

The Rugby World Cup started in the European summer, when France beat the All Blacks 27-13 on a balmy Friday night in Paris. It is finishing in winter, seven long weeks later, with the “Blackness” suffering their own stormy weather as a result of the France loss.

After the defeat, they made nine changes for their game against Italy in which they swept to a 96-17 victory, the significance of which was lost to us at the time. 

We won’t list all the changes here, but among the more significant ones from the opening defeat were the decisions to play Jordie Barrett at inside centre, and re-configure the loose forwards, which included playing Sam Cane and Shannon Frizell as the flanks against Italy. 

Cane also took over as skipper from Ardie Savea, who captained the side against France.

With the benefit of hindsight we realise a new side was being born, which gives rise to Alfred’s Theorem (1): “The All Blacks of yesterday are not the side they are today.”

The side New Zealand played against Italy was basically the side who did duty against Argentina a month later. 

They are surely favourites in the final against South Africa on Saturday night because their 44-6 semi-final defeat of Argentina last weekend was an astonishingly one-sided affair, as the Blackness added 24 unanswered second-half points against the hapless Pumas to bulk up a 20-6 half-time lead.

None of their seven tries against Argentina were more valuable than their fourth, scored by scrum-half Aaron Smith just after half-time. 

The half-time break usually gives the losing side a chance to re-group. The coach walks into the dressing-room, clears his throat and tells them something they already know — but does so convincingly, preferably with spittle. 

After the pep talk, conceding just after the interval is rather like being thrown a shovel and asked to dig your own grave.

Smith was in good voice before his try, bellowing at his forwards as they mauled downfield, the maul drawing in Argentine defenders like a magnet. It allowed Smith the space upon receiving the ball to dance and shimmy and spin his way past defenders to dot down.

For the rest of the half, the All Blacks enjoyed themselves. It was fun tinged with arrogance. 

Frizell so toyed with the Argentinian defenders that he almost forgot to dot down and Will Jordan’s run from deep through an undefended channel close to the Pumas’ line-out rubbed salt into the wounds.

On an early winter’s night in Paris, there was no singing in the rain for the Boks against England in their semi-final. Rather, it was a weak warble, as they struggled to find their voice. 

At first, they made a hash of their line-outs and their kicking game was neutralised, mainly because of England fullback Freddie Steward’s command of the skies.

They weren’t helped by the wet ball, which was as slippery as an Eskom chief executive at a press conference. 

England’s fly-half and captain Owen Farrell added to the pain, succeeding with four penalties and an accomplished long-range drop-kick that was potted from just inside the Bok half. 

Farrell might as well have been ordering a beer shandy at his local.

At least there was animation from the Bok coaching staff, who, unlike their plodding charges, realised something needed to be done. 

On the half-hour, Felix Jones, the Irishman who is assistant to Jacques Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus, got the wind up. The result was Manie Libbok being hauled off for Handré Pollard. 

Other, more predictable, substitutions followed in the opening minutes of the second half. RG Snyman replaced Eben Etzebeth (46th minute), “Ox” Nche replaced Steven Kitshoff (49th minute) and, two minutes later, Deon Fourie replaced skipper Siya Kolisi on the flank. 

Ox’s power at loosehead clearly tilted the match in South Africa’s favour leading, as it did, to a raft of penalties against England, but it was the Snyman-Fourie combination that manufactured a try when it looked as if the next Springbok try was only going to happen in 2024.

Snyman won a clean line-out ball deep in the England half and a maul was formed; Fourie burst off the back like one of those radio-controlled cars as he buzzed for the line, being tackled only inches short of it. 

The ball was re-cycled and who should Faf de Klerk spin it to but Snyman, who corkscrewed over to make it a two-point ball game.

Pollard approached the penalty that gave the Boks the lead with the kind of intense calm that meant the result was never in doubt and, suddenly, South Africa had made a comeback for the ages.

Where were you when the “Great Bok Burglary” was going down? Do you remember? Were you on the couch or pacing up and down in the corridor? Were you actually watching, or trying not to watch, as you sort-of watched? Maybe you were watching not the match but the clock. Maybe you were watching with your hands over your eyes? 

However you were watching and wherever you were, you’re unlikely to forget the occasion for a long time.

One of the important reasons why South Africa, and not England, is playing in the final is that England made the cardinal error of defending their lead. 

It was not a significant lead, however, and combined with England’s narrow ambition, meant that the back door was left slightly ajar. 

Spotting the chink of light, the Springboks flooded through it after half-time like a green army. England found out too late that it was too late to mount a comeback.

South Africa were behind until Etzebeth’s 67th-minute try against France in the quarter-final and were behind for longer against England. This means they have heart. 

And means, too, that the final — like the previous two matches in the knock-outs — might be a game of two very different halves.

There are some rogue factors in the final, which include the weather, the referee and South African fatigue. 

The weather first. Winter is coming and South Africa traditionally don’t cope as well in the wet as the Northern Hemisphere sides or New Zealand do. 

Second, whether by luck or design, South Africa have not had a single transparently bad decision go against them all competition, which suggests they’re possibly cannier than we give them credit for, or that they’ve simply been lucky.

Third, the spectre of fatigue at this stage of the tournament is very real. Etzebeth, for example, after his gigantic performance against France, was a shadow of himself against England. 

Cobus Reinach was patently out of sorts, too. Kolisi looked beyond exhausted against England. Looked at from another direction, Franco Mostert and Pieter-Steph du Toit surely can’t continue to put in big shifts for much longer.

But this is a final. Strange things happen in finals. The more talented team in the 1995 final were the All Blacks, but they lost, thanks to the Boks’ never-say-die courage and the unerring boot of Joel Stransky. 

In 2003, the Wallabies, under Eddie Jones, marched into the final at home in Sydney, having beaten fancied New Zealand along the way. On the day, they were no match for England’s Jonny Wilkinson and Martin Johnson, which leads to Alfred’s Theorem (2): “You never can tell in a final — really.”