Deep down the Springboks know they can dance with the All Blacks on the biggest rugby occasion of the year, no matter how ungainly the defending World Cup champions were in stumbling their way there.
After a pair of contrasting semifinals, this Rugby World Cup has its last two teams standing, and the fact that they are the All Blacks and Springboks getting set to tango at the Big Dance in Paris should surprise no one.
These are the top two nations in the history of this event, with three titles apiece, and at the end of however long it takes to decide this final on Saturday night at Stade de France 7am Sunday one team, one nation, will be the first to claim a quartet of global crowns.
But their passages could not have been more different. The All Blacks made short work of Argentina in the first of the final-four matchups, running in seven tries and easing to the most comfortable of 44-6 victories.
They look, for all the world, like a team peaking at the right end of the tournament after their historic defeat in their opening pool match against the hosts.
South Africa, on the other hand, could not have made harder work of their semifinal against England, trailing 15-6 deep into the contest played in consistent drizzle and relying on a clutch 78th-minute, 50-metre penalty from replacement flyhalf Handre Pollard to secure a 16-15 victory.
It was the second straight week the defending champion Springboks had snuck through by a single point, after they outlasted France in an outstanding quarterfinal, 29-28, to crush the host country’s hopes of a first ever Webb Ellis Cup.
Most of the talk post-match in the Springboks camp centred on the challenge served up by a physical and dialled-in England outfit who clearly rattled the South Africans.
But coach Jacques Nienaber did concede in the aftermath of a messy victory and a flawed performance from his men that they were going to have to be better next weekend. Much better.
Nienaber says it's going to be a final, it's going to be tight
He says the All Blacks are in excellent form.
The Springboks coach says if you look at their last few games, if you're not going to get close to 30-35 points, you won't be in the mix.
Skipper Siya Kolisi agreed, pointing out that it is going to be hard, it's going to be special” when his team lines up for just its second World Cup final against the New Zealanders as they look to secure back-to-back crowns for the first time.
Kolisi says the final is a different ball game, you’re playing against a top-quality side in New Zealand, so of course anything can happen there as well.
He says they have to make sure they prepare well as they need to be better at taking opportunities and play the conditions that are there as well.
The Springboks play the All Blacks at 7am next Sunday in Stade de France
Source: NZ Herald
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