The bold tactical moves the brought South Africa home against England illustrate why they and New Zealand are the last teams standing.
The Rugby World Cup semi-finals were meant to be blowouts, with New Zealand and South Africa cruising into the final. And while those heavy favourites did ultimately make it, these were two dramatically different matches that could have big implications for next weekend’s title clash.
Argentina had a sniff but then the penalties just kept on coming for the All Blacks. Australian referee Angus Gardner blew four straight to put the All Blacks on the front-foot, and after 11 minutes superstar wing Will Jordan scored the first of his three tries.From that point on, the All Blacks cranked up the pressure, simply running the Pumas off their feet.
Michael Cheika would have been preaching a strong start to the second half, but when his team dropped the kick-off, and Aaron Smith dashed 25 metres to score from the resulting scrum, at 27-6 down the contest was effectively over.All Black coach Ian Foster knew it, too, and set about protecting his starting line up. At 55 minutes he bought on two super-subs in front-rowers Fletcher Newell and 144 kg Tamaiti Williams.
Contrast this to the smashfest between England and South Africa, which was a pitched battle for the full 80 minutes and another classic in what has been a memorable tournament. England scrum-half Alex Mitchell kicks against South Africa. In the wet weather, England’s strategy was to kick, kick, kick.While England kicked away 93 per cent of possession – only spreading the ball more than 30 metres from the breakdown once – their selection of the 1.96-metre Freddie Steward at fullback proved a masterstroke at nullifying South Africa’s kicking response, as time after time he defused the South African high ball.
Third and most surprisingly, the giant lock Eben Etzebeth was replaced by RG Synman after 45 minutes. This was a rare move but it paid off in spades. Synman bought order to the struggling South African lineout and scored the only try of the game in the 69th minute with a smashing run.
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