Pollard wins it for Boks against tenacious England

For the second week in a row the Springboks found a way to win when it seemed unlikely as Handre Pollard kicked a long-range penalty three minutes from time to clinch a dramatic 16-15 win over England in their Rugby World Cup semi-final at Stade de France on Saturday night.

It was almost a replay of 2019, when Pollard kicked a clutch penalty to beat Wales and set up a final against England.

This time it was England they beat, and it will be the All Blacks, beaten by England in the semifinal four years ago, who will be the opponents in the decider next weekend.

England went in as underdogs but played the conditions much better than the Boks and were leading 15-6 with 11 minutes to go.

At that point it required something miraculous from the Boks. The miracle was engineered initially by the same weapon that won the 2019 final against these opponents – Ox Nche monstered his opponent in the scrum and the Boks were awarded a penalty.

PINPOINT POLLARD SET UP THE TRY

Pollard was pinpoint in kicking the ball into the corner. From the resultant lineout, replacement flanker Deon Fourie created the space needed by breaking off and taking the ball close to the line.

The Bok big men had the momentum with them and with referee Ben O’Keefe signalling penalty advantage it was one of the biggest and most talented of those big men, RG Snyman, who powered his way over for the score.

Pollard kicked the pressure conversion to make it a two-point game and from there it was nail-biting stuff for both the Bok supporters and the England supporters, as the next score would win it.

By then though the Boks, who looked flat and a bit off for the first hour, were starting to gain the ascendancy. And, most importantly, the replacements had engineered the kind of scrumming dominance that could make a difference.

When a scrum was set just inside the England half you could sense what the Boks were setting out to do, and they achieved it. It was at the limit of Pollard’s range, but he didn’t appear to miss a beat as he stepped up to kick it amidst the most unbearable tension.

England had a bit of ball in the last two minutes and as the clock went into the red, but eventually England knocked it on and for the second weekend in succession there was almost a sense of disbelief as much as relief and jubilation as the South African players and fans celebrated.

Let it be said though that if the French felt last week that the Boks had stolen the game from under their noses, this time England had even more right to think that —SuperSport.