2019 Rugby World Cup final

2019 Rugby World Cup final

International Stadium Yokohama hosted the match
Event	2019 Rugby World Cup
England South Africa 12 32
Date	2 November 2019
Venue	International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
Player of the match	Duane Vermeulen (South Africa)
Referee	Jérôme Garcès (France)[1]
Attendance	70,103
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The 2019 Rugby World Cup final was a rugby union match played on 2 November 2019 at the International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan. It marked the culmination of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and was played between England and South Africa, a rematch of the 2007 Rugby World Cup final.

The match saw South Africa claim their third Rugby World Cup title with a 32–12 victory, with tries from Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe adding to six penalties and two conversions from Handré Pollard.^[2] The official player of the match was South Africa's number eight, Duane Vermeulen.^[3]

The match was the

Route to the final

England		Round	South Africa
Pool C		Pool stage	Pool B
Opponent	Result		Opponent	Result
Tonga	35–3	Match 1	New Zealand	13–23
United States	45–7	Match 2	Namibia	57–3
Argentina	39–10	Match 3	Italy	49–3
France	0–01	Match 4	Canada	66–7
Pos Team v t e Pld W D L PF PA T B Pts 1  England 4 3 1 0 119 20 17 3 17 2  France 4 3 1 0 79 51 9 1 15 3  Argentina 4 2 0 2 106 91 14 3 11 4  Tonga 4 1 0 3 67 105 9 2 6 5   United States 4 0 0 4 52 156 7 0 0 Source: [citation needed]		Final standing	Pos Team v t e Pld W D L PF PA T B Pts 1  New Zealand 4 3 1 0 157 22 22 2 16 2  South Africa 4 3 0 1 185 36 27 3 15 3  Italy 4 2 1 1 98 78 14 2 12 4  Namibia 4 0 1 3 34 175 3 0 2 5  Canada 4 0 1 3 14 177 2 0 2 Source: [citation needed]
Opponent	Result	Knockout stage	Opponent	Result
Australia	40–16	Quarter-finals	Japan	26–3
New Zealand	19–7	Semi-finals	Wales	19–16

England's final pool match with France was called off on safety grounds due to the impact caused by

England reached the final after topping their

England started as favourites for the final,[18] but they had an unfortunate start to the game as Kyle Sinckler was substituted in the third minute after colliding with Maro Itoje,^[19] leaving England with only one tighthead prop.^[20] South Africa tight forwards Bongi Mbonambi and Lood de Jager also left the field with injuries in the 21st minute.^[21] In the first half, the only points scored were from penalties, with South Africa leading 12–6 at half-time after several handling errors by England,^[22] who came close to scoring a try, but did not manage to score after 26 phases.^[20]

Two more successful penalties for each side made the score 18–12 early in the second half. Makazole Mapimpi scored the first try in the 66th minute, when he ran in on the left before touching down, making South Africa's lead 25–12 after the conversion. Despite South Africa having won two previous World Cups, he was the first Springbok to score a try in a World Cup final.^[20] Cheslin Kolbe followed up with another try eight minutes later, running in from the right wing to make the final score 32–12.^[20][22][23]

Details

England

South Africa

FB 15 Elliot Daly RW 14 Anthony Watson OC 13 Manu Tuilagi IC 12 Owen Farrell (c) LW 11 Jonny May  69' FH 10 George Ford  49' SH 9 Ben Youngs  75' N8 8 Billy Vunipola OF 7 Sam Underhill  59' BF 6 Tom Curry RL 5 Courtney Lawes  40' LL 4 Maro Itoje TP 3 Kyle Sinckler  2' HK 2 Jamie George  59' LP 1 Mako Vunipola  45' Replacements: HK 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie  59' PR 17 Joe Marler  45' PR 18 Dan Cole  2' LK 19 George Kruis  40' FL 20 Mark Wilson  59' SH 21 Ben Spencer  75' CE 22 Henry Slade  49' CE 23 Jonathan Joseph  69' Coach: Eddie Jones

FB 15 Willie le Roux  67' RW 14 Cheslin Kolbe OC 13 Lukhanyo Am IC 12 Damian de Allende LW 11 Makazole Mapimpi FH 10 Handré Pollard SH 9 Faf de Klerk  76' N8 8 Duane Vermeulen BF 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit OF 6 Siya Kolisi (c)  63' RL 5 Lood de Jager  21' LL 4 Eben Etzebeth  59' TP 3 Frans Malherbe  43' HK 2 Bongi Mbonambi  21' LP 1 Tendai Mtawarira  43' Replacements: HK 16 Malcolm Marx  21' PR 17 Steven Kitshoff  43' PR 18 Vincent Koch  43' LK 19 RG Snyman  59' LK 20 Franco Mostert  21' FL 21 Francois Louw  63' SH 22 Herschel Jantjies  76' CE 23 François Steyn  67' Coach: Rassie Erasmus

Notes:

• Siya Kolisi (South Africa) earned his 50th test cap.
• François Steyn (South Africa) became the second Springbok player to win two World Cups. The first, Os du Randt, was on the Boks' victorious 1995 team and was also a teammate of Steyn in 2007.^[25][26]
• Jérôme Garcès became the first French referee to take charge of a Rugby World Cup final.^[27]
• South Africa became the first Southern Hemisphere team to win
  Tri Nations) and the Rugby World Cup in the same year.^[28]
• South Africa became the first team to win the Rugby World Cup having lost a match during the pool stage.[28]^[29]
• This was the first final in which South Africa scored a try, and the one in which they scored the most points, more than they had in their previous two finals combined. It was also the most points England had scored in a final when finishing on the losing side.^[28][30]
• England and South Africa became the third pair of nations to face each other on two occasions in a World Cup final (previously having contested the 2007 final) after England and Australia (1991 and 2003), as well as France and New Zealand (1987 and 2011).
• South Africa is, at 2019, the only nation to have contested at least one World Cup final never to have lost.^[28]
• England joined France on a record three losses in World Cup finals.^[31]
• This victory meant South Africa climb to the top of the World Rugby Rankings for the first time since 2009, it also meant England dropped to third.^[28] South Africa were the fifth team to top the rankings in 2019, with New Zealand, Ireland, Wales and England all reaching number 1 at various points between June and November.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• History of rugby union matches between England and South Africa

References