Wednesday 30 October 2019

Rugby World Cup Final: England vs South Africa


After the final semi-final whistle went, the 2019 Rugby World Cup final lineup has been
announced with England and South Africa ready to go head to head to win the William Webb
Ellis Cup.

England beat New Zealand in an exciting match which saw the defending champions broken
down by a relentless English side as they went on to win 19-7 and secure their spot in this
year’s Rugby World Cup final. This meant that New Zealand failed to reach the final and they
would not become the first-ever team to win the tournament for a record 3 times in a row.

South Africa guaranteed their spot in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final after a tight match with
Wales went all the way with a narrow final score of 19-16 to the Springboks. This sent South
Africa to the final and Wales to a third-place playoff against the mighty All Blacks, a match
which nobody wants to play. However, if the men in red can secure a rare win over New
Zealand, it’ll be the first time in 66 long years.

Both England and South Africa have strong forward packs who will try to bully each other in
the set pieces and around the rucks, the game could go down to a moment of brilliance such
as Johnny Wilkinson’s drop goal in 2003.

After World Class referee Nigel Owens was ruled out of the match with a fitness problem,
World Rugby have appointed controversial referee Jerome Garces for the final with both
English fans and South African fans mostly unhappy with the appointment. However, Garces
will allow for a free contest at the breakdown which is where the back-rows of either team
will be desperate to one-up the other team. Keep an eye on Sam Underhill, Tom Curry, Siya
Kolisi and Pieter-Steph du Toit who will all be massively important to their sides on
Saturday’s match.

Whatever happens, Saturday’s match should be an extremely close game with both sides
desperate to win in a rematch of the 2007 Rugby World Cup final where South Africa came
out on top.

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