The Springboks and All Blacks were at war for 80 minutes of the 2023 Rugby World Cup Final and once again the Springboks secured a match at the 2023 World Cup by 1 point to be crowned as World Champions for a record 4th time.
Following a yellow card offence by the All Blacks, Handre Pollard converted a penalty after two minutes of play in the first half.
The Springboks were winning the tiny battles for the first ten minutes of the first half. A second converted penalty by Handre Pollard extended the Springboks lead to 06-00.
A penalty conceded by Faf de Klerk led to the All Blacks applying pressure on the Springboks' tryline. A second penalty to the All Blacks was converted by Richie Mo'unga to open the All Blacks account. The Springboks still led 06-03 after 16 minutes of play.
However, Pollard replied two minutes later with his 3rd converted penalty to extend the Springboks lead to 09-03.
With the All Blacks captain sent off with a red card the Springboks continued to apply the pressure which resulted in yet another Handre Pollard converted penalty to extend the Springboks lead to 12-03 and 7 minutes to play in the first half.
With a penalty against the lazy running of Eben Etzebeth, Richie Mo'unga converted his second penalty. The Springboks led 12-06 going into the second half.
The All Blacks slowly started to claw their way back into the game following the yellow card to Siya Kolisi and there was a definite momentum shift in favour of the All Blacks. Eventually, the All Blacks sent the ball out wide for Beauden Barrett to score the first try of the match. With 20 minutes to play the Springboks led by 12-11.
The All Blacks continued to dominate and following a yellow card to Springbok's Cheslin Kolbe were seemingly on their way to a famous win. However, the Springboks have shown they know how to win a match with one point, and that they did, desperately hanging on to be crowned 2023 Rugby World Champions.
Scorers:
Springboks: Penalties: Handre Pollard (4).
All Blacks: Try: Beauden Barrett. Penalties: Richie Mo'unga (2).
Teams:
Springboks: 1 Steven Kitshoff, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Pieter-Steph Du Toit, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 9 Faf de Klerk, 10 Handre Pollard, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 12 Damian de Allende, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 15 Damian Willemse. Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Jasper Wiese, 23 Willie Le Roux.
All Blacks: 1 Ethan de Groot, 2 Codie Taylor, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 4 Brodie Retallick, 5 Scott Barrett, 6 Shannon Frizell, 7 Sam Cane (c), 8 Ardie Savea, 9 Aaron Smith, 10 Richie Mo'unga, 11 Mark Tele'a, 12 Jordie Barrett, 13 Rieko Ioane, 14 Will Jordan, 15 Beauden Barrett. Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei'aho, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Nepo Laulala, 19 Samuel Whitelock, 20 Dalton Papali'i, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Damian McKenzie, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown.