YOKOHAMA: Springboks flyhalf Handre Pollard kicked a penalty four minutes from time to send South Africa into their third Rugby World Cup final with a 19-16 victory over Wales in a semi-final dogfight on Sunday.
The South Africans will return to Yokohama next weekend to bid for a third World Cup triumph against an England side who ran defending champions New Zealand out of the tournament with a breathtaking display of rugby on Saturday.
This was the other side of the game, a largely grim clash dominated by the boot — there were a total of 81 kicks from hand, effectively one a minute, during the match — and which was appropriately settled by a three-pointer from the kicking tee.
Man of the Match Pollard nervelessly potted all five of his shots at goal, including three other penalties and a conversion, while centre Damian de Allende crossed for the game’s first try in the 57th minute.
Wales, who will depart heartbroken at having now lost all three of their World Cup semi-finals, levelled the scores at 16-16 with 15 minutes remaining when winger Josh Adams crossed for his sixth try of the tournament.
South Africa would not be denied, however, and secured their passage to a rematch of the 2007 World Cup final when Pollard calmly slotted the ball through the posts from about 30 metres out wide to the left.
“It probably wasn’t the best spectacle to watch,” South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus said, “but the boys stuck to their guns and adapted to it. We’re in the final of the World Cup… but that’s only half way there. We’d love to win the World Cup.”
The Welsh recovered from a sloppy, mistake-riddled start that somehow only left them 9-6 down at halftime and took the game to the Boks in the second half, their bench giving them energy and better field position. They drew level at 9-9, and then again at 16-16.
But a turnover in centre-field by Springbok replacement Francois Louw and one last error by prop Rhys Carre, coming in at the side of one of South Africa’s hard-to-stop rolling mauls proved Wales’ undoing.
