Translated material
Gazelles vs Roses
South Africa and England will compete for the title of World Cup winner
The Rugby World Cup final will pit reigning trophy holders England against South Africa, who became the strongest on the planet in 1995 at their home tournament. The decisive game will take place next Saturday at the Stade de France in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis. A day earlier, Argentina and France will compete for third place at the capital's Parc des Princes. It was these teams that played each other in the opening match of the World Cup final tournament on September 7.Of the two semi-finals that took place last weekend, the match between England and France, which ended with the victory of the team from Foggy Albion, aroused the greatest interest - 14:9. At the previous stage, both opponents knocked out the favorites, representatives of the Southern Hemisphere - New Zealand and Australia. According to quotes from leading bookmakers, preference in the European confrontation was given to the “tricolors”, but more than once at the current World Cup the pre-match forecasts turned out to be wrong.
In early March, these teams already met as part of the European Six Nations Cup, and England prevailed at Twickenham Stadium in London - 26:18. Supporters of the “tricolors” now relied on the emotional upsurge of the French team, which sensationally sent the New Zealanders home, and on the support of thousands of people in the stands.
The match started with a major mistake by the home team's defense. In the second minute, the ball kicked by the “roses” (the name of the English team) closer to the opponent’s in-goal due to the sluggishness of Damien Traill became the prey of the persistent Briton Josh Lewsey, who landed the game ball behind the end line. Lucy himself was taken aback by such a gift. However, the French quickly recovered from the shock and, thanks to free kicks by Boxis, took the lead - 6:5. At the beginning of the second half, he once again punished the 2003 World Cup winners for violating the rules, increasing the hosts' advantage to four points.
The main English star, Jonny Wilkinson, took over the game, since bringing an attempt into the French “city” seemed extremely difficult. The hosts built their defensive line in a very organized manner, and all the attacks of the rugby players from Foggy Albion were drowned out on the distant approaches to someone else's scoreboard. Wilkinson used his signature weapon - hitting drop goals, that is, field goals when the team scores three points when the ball hits the top of the H-shaped goal. Three times Johnny's shots did not bring the desired result, and already with the score 8:9 the ball hit the post. Five minutes before the siren, another British breakthrough earned them a free kick, and Wilkinson brought the British team ahead - 11:9. Three minutes after the ball came out of the scrum, he made another attempt at a drop goal and still left his calling card at the Stade de France - 14:9.
The French made desperate efforts to save the match, and in one episode, the mighty Sebastian Chabal, nicknamed the Caveman, who entered the game as a substitute, was stopped a meter from England's score sheet. After the final whistle, this colorful rugby player could not recover from defeat for a long time and did not leave the field, kneeling and covering his face with his hands.
"It's a great day and caps off a fantastic week for us," England captain Paul Vickery said. “Beating France on their own field in the World Cup semi-finals is worth a lot.” The losing captain, Rafael Ibañas, commented on the hosts’ performance: “We started the tournament poorly, lost to Argentina and then got terribly angry with ourselves. Subsequently, the guys showed themselves to be brave; we defeated New Zealand largely due to courage. An offensive mistake at the beginning of the match with England unsettled us. The British played extremely prudently, and no team in the world can find an antidote to Wilkinson. We probably should have played extremely carefully in defense and not broken the rules, because Johnny and his “golden” leg do not forgive mistakes.”
The Argentines, who do not have a professional rugby league in their country, could hardly count on more than reaching the semi-finals, and this is the best achievement in the history of the South American team. The players of the Argentina national team in the match with South Africa, lost with a score of 13:37, made two serious mistakes, giving the ball to the opponent for interception. These episodes ended with attempts. The leader of the African "gazelles" Piercy Montgomery scored all four conversions and three free throws, showing 100% accuracy. Montgomery confidently leads the list of scorers at the 2007 World Cup with 93 points. Perhaps the fastest rugby player on the planet, Brian Habana, came out on top in terms of the number of attempts - two goals for the Argentines and only eight for the tournament.