England blow golden Rugby World Cup chance as South Africa run riot in Japan

England were sloppy, and often ill-disciplined against the Springboks, but South Africa were ultimately the better team in every department.

Handle Pollard was as devastating with the boot as ever, and while England showed glimpses of getting back into the game, tries from Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe put them out of reach.

In South Africa’s two previous World Cup wins, they hadn’t scored a single try in either final.

Notoriously a kicking team that slowly breaks down team’s defences, they immediately gave themselves a chance in the opening two minutes when Handre Pollard put the ball down for the game’s first penalty, only for the ball to slide right of the posts.

England hadn’t escaped the early exchanges unscathed though as Kyle Sinckler copped a big hit, knocking him out cold as he laid flat on the ground.

The promising signs was that he soon came round and walked off the field unaided, but he was permanently replace by Dan Cole due to concussion protocol.

England looked shaken themselves by the ferocious start from South Africa with putting their foot to the pedal and giving Eddie Jones’ side little to no rest.

Pollard had England’s defence dancing with his quick hands, but it was a mistake from an unlikely source in Billy Vunipola that ultimately led to the first score of the game on eight minutes.

The 26-year-old played a sloppy pass to Owen Farrell with Siya Kolisi and Duane Vermeulen pouncing to force a penalty straight in front of the posts with Pollard making no mistake this time.

That appeared to be the kick up the backside Eddie Jones’ side needed as they slowly worked their way back into contention.

An inspirational possession from Jonny May soon led to a brief display of dominance with Mbongeni Mbonambi the latest player to go down with an apparent head injury.

England kept on the pressure across South Africa’s 22 and eventually got their chance to kick through the posts when Cheslin Kolbe was penalised for holding too long on Courtney Lawes.

Owen Farrell levelled the score, but almost immediately South Africa responded, winning a questionable scrum-penalty going in the favour of the Springboks with Pollard restoring their three-point lead.

England retaliated with their best phase of the match though as they soon pressed on South Africa’s touchline, knocking at the door with everything they had.

England needed to find some energy from somewhere with their fans in the stadium stunned in silence, but they produced their biggest cheer of the match when won a rare scrum battle, leading to a Farrell penalty to reduce the deficit back to six.

That was seemingly the boost they needed, with Tom Curry then producing a moment of individual brilliance to force another England penalty minutes later, but Farrell couldn’t convert the long-range effort.

However, once again some sloppy defence from England cost them as South Africa deployed a quick line-out routine with Jones’ side penalised for offside.

Almost immediately from the restart though, England cut the deficit to six once again as South Africa were penalised for coming in at the side.

South Africa though remained in control of the match, pinning England in their own half.

And they eventually produced the best moment of the match as Makazole Mapimpi was set free on the wing, who delightfully chipped over with Lukhanyo Am smartly gathering it up before offloading back to the wing for a sensational score.

Jerome Garces went to the TMO for confirmation with the initial pass to Mapimpi being looked at, but the official didn’t consider it a “clear and obvious error”.

Pollard added the extras to all-but seal South Africa’s win with Cheslin Kolbe producing the icing on the cake for the Springboks five minutes before the end who darted around the wing to score.

South Africa knew the Webb Ellis Cup was won with that as they began to celebrate wildly on the sidelines while England players hanged their heads.

For England, it now means they have lost three of their four Rugby World Cup finals.

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source: express.co.uk