South Africa edge England 16-15 to set up World Cup final against All Blacks

Well played to both teams - England's defence was magnificent until the last 2 minutes. Boks sneaking home yet again by 1 point! That's what champion teams do.

NZ deserve to be favourites in the final with the razzle-dazzle style they have been playing. Boks will definitely have to score more tries than today if they want to win.

Southern hemisphere dominant - yet again.

The replacement England props were just not up to the job, after coming on they gave away a penalty at every scrum. That was enough to give South Africa the win.

I should add that England played a great game, not great rugby but their tactics were spot on. Several players played well above themselves. Just too bad about the second half scrum.

The English forced South Africa to play their game, boring as hell, but it works for England, and almost got the the win. Defensively, England were massive, and on attack they really tested the Springboks. Boring game to watch but both teams played really well for the game that was in front of them. South Africa was lucky… I’m not sure the ABs would have got past that. Owen Farrell still needs to learn to keep quiet.

Underestimated underdogs made the Boks look pretty ordinary for great chunks of the game until SA just found too many fresh buffaloes, hippos and rhinos for their pack, which England couldn't match. Sinckler had a bit of a mare.

Undeserved finalist..

Gutted for England. Great game. Took too long to get beers again. Organisers still haven't sorted that.

Reffing mistakes but on balance Boks just deserved the win. Fine margins. Good to see Eben get treated like a rag doll. Boks try was a big mistake by England. Pollard is class, smart move including him in the squad.

Will be supporting the Saffas next week as they are slightly less arrogant than the ABs and their silly folk dance.

Great to see England back at top level.

Gutted for England. Great game. Took too long to get beers again. Organisers still haven't sorted that.

Unforgivable crime at a game of rugger. The French will probably blame that on the fans not having the right change or something.

Great ending. Boring game.

Yeah England just don’t play exciting rugby. They play what works for them though, and gotta give them credit for that.

England were fantastic. Outplayed the Springboks for 60 minutes. But a couple of points regarding the laws.

We can't have tier 1 nations being permitted to bring on an entire front row/ almost the entire forward pack. And with no clear and obvious substitution for injuries. How are lower tier nations going to compete with that? The law is wrong and if they cannot clearly define if a player is inured then minimise the number of front row player/ forward replacements. This law means that the tier 1 nations will just continue to widen the gap.

It seems that referees are becoming lazy to ref the scrum and are happy to blow up immediately for a penalty when one side are dominating. In rugby history teams have always been dominated in the scrum but the game would just carry on. Win the scrum and play on with the possession. Yes Synckler was losing his battle in the front row but I do not agree that every scrum he lost should have resulted in a penalty. And I do not agree that the Springboks were clean in every scrum in the last 15 minutes.

And don't even get me started on lineouts not being thrown straight. The referee just let it go.

Not only that, how can Willie Le Roux catch a ball in the 22, then run 4 paces out of his 22, and then call a mark as he realises Big Joe is about to "clean his clock"?

What is the law on that?

And don't even get me started on lineouts not being thrown straight. The referee just let it go.

Don't get me started on the scrum put in.... Most of the time they feed the ball to the No.8!

That's a really good point Kipling.

Considering that the Springboks had the scrum put-in, which essentially goes straight to their number 8, why the need to give a penalty?

Unless England have flagrantly stopped the ball coming out to de Klerk the game can continue. Synckler was being penalised for supposedly turning in (debatable, he was just losing the scrum) but the ball would have been at the back of the scrum by de Klerk anyway.

and so the greatest rivalry in rugby (maybe in all sport) resumes and has a definitive chapter to be written this weekend. Both 3x champions going for a 4th. if NZ win not only will they have 4 titles but 3 of the last 4. It will give them a 2 out 3 win against SA in 2023 and 4 out of 6 wins in RWC meetings. It will also give hope to the sport that the game can still be about attack and intelligence over brutal brawn and kick/bash. One imagines that every neutral will be supporting Black on the weekend.

@Haaa Nemui

, boring as hell, but it

Really? No team was going to play free flowing open rugby in those conditions. It was absolutely tipping to down. I was soaked to the skin in the stands.

Loved the game. A real war of attrition. Having played in the pack for half my rugby playing life, I appreciate what was happening. Fabulous and absorbing battle between these two teams. Was on the edge of my seat for the entire match (apart from when queuing for beer!).

Brilliant game, loved it.