Pollard boots Boks to final

MATCH REPORT: A late Handre Pollard penalty gave South Africa a nailbiting 19-16 victory over Wales in the Rugby World Cup semi-final in Yokohama on Sunday.

There is not much to write home about. When you have said that South Africa won and they will play in their third World Cup Final, that Wales lost and will not get the chance to play in their first World Cup final, that each side scored a converted try and that South Africa kicked four penalties to Wales’s three – when you have said all that, you have pretty well said all there is to say.

It was not a match of creativity, derring-do, adventure and excitement. It was a game to be won and that was all, and so it became one long plod, made exciting, not by the play, but by the closeness of the score and the result of the outcome for next weekend.

At half-time South Africa led 9-6 and deserved more as they were dominating the game. In the second half the Springboks did not dominate the game and with five minutes to play the score was 16-16 after first South Africa and then Wales had scored a try.

For the rest there was lots of kicking. South Africa kicked 15 box kicks to Wales’s 12, though Wales did it better and their kicks were more recoverable. If the scrumhalves did not kick, the flyhalf often did or somebody else did. Passing seldom went beyond a one-pass phase.

South Africa scrummed and mauled better than Wales; Wales kicked better than South Africa. Wales had roughly twice as many tackles to make as the Springboks did, and both sides were efficient in tackling.

After 18 minutes the score was 6-3 to South Africa after Pollard, Biggar and Pollard again had kicked penalty goals in a match with a pretty even penalty count.

Then came the only really creative moment of the match as the Springbok attacked down the far right with good work by Lukhanyo Am and then went wide left where Damian de Allende grubbered into touch.

By the end of the first half, you would have found it easy to bet on the Springboks, for the Welsh were being hurt by the force of the Springbok pack. Wales lost two players in the half – tighthead Tomas Francis who dislocated a shoulder in trying to stop Duane Vermeulen when the burly No.8 ran back the Welsh kick-off after Pollard has made the score 9-3 and just after that George North tore a hamstring and was off.

Just before half-time Biggar goaled his second penalty when Bongi Mbonambi tackled an opponent who did not have the ball.

Where the Springbok were expected to build on their first-half dominance, it was Wales who got on top and South Africa made errors. They kicked into the Welsh 22 where Biggar easily marked. He kicked towards touch where Faf de Klerk knocked the ball into touch for a Welsh lineout in which Eben Etzebeth was penalised, a penalty which Biggar goaled to level the scores at 9-all. The score stayed like that for the next 12 minutes.

Substitutions started early in the half. On 47 minutes, South Africa changed its whole front row, amongst other changes on the way to emptying the benches.

South Africa were on the attack. Pollard took a pass going left and then went right around the back of the forwards for the best charge of the match. Back the ball came to the Springbok and they went left to De Allende who handed off Biggar and forced his way past Tomos Williams and Owen Watkin to get the ball down for a try.

Pollard converted on a day when the only kick at goal that missed was a drop attempt by Rhys Patchell.

The Springboks were penalised twice at tackles and Patchell kicked out for a lineout. Now it was Wales’s turn to maul and soon they were bashing at the Springbok goal-line, after 21 phases at five metres from the Springbok line or even closer, the Springboks were penalised, well in from touch. Brave giant, Alun Wynn Jones, Wales’s captain, opted for a five metre scrum. The Springboks got a shove on but Wales got the ball and went left where Josh Adams had an overlap and scored far out. With Biggar off, Leigh Halfpenny kicked the conversion from near touch. 16-all with 15 minutes to play.

Adams’s overlap was no surprise as the Springbok wings came in and regularly conceded an overlap. At one in the first half, Wales had a two-man overlap that came to nothing.

The match ground on. The Springboks had a penalty which they made into a lineout which they made into a maul. Wales were penalised for collapsing the maul, and Pollard calmly kicked the goal that won the match and a place in the 2019 final.

Wales were penalised at the last scrum of the match, deep in their own 22 but instead of kicking for goal, Pollard tapped and kicked out to end the match.

Man of the Match: There is a case for brave Dan Biggar and his kicking and for Handré Pollard and his goal-kicking and that run that led to the try, but our vote goes to Pieter-Steph du Toit and that colossal courage, energy and determination of his. His parents in the stand must have been so proud.

Moment of the Match: Alun Wynn Jones’s brave decision to take a scrum instead of kicking for goal – and the decision worked.

Villain of the Match: Nobody at all. It was a honourable match by two teams of honorable sportsmen.

*Eddie Jones and John Mitchell were there. They could not have been troubled by anything they saw.

*As it happened: South Africa v Wales

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try: De Allende
Con: Pollard
Pens: Pollard 4

For Wales:
Try: Adams
Con: Halfpenny
Pens: Biggar 3

Teams

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sibusiso Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Rudolph Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Francois Louw, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn.

Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny. 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies 12, Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Wyn Jones.
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Aaron Shingler, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Owen Watkin.

Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)