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South Africa's reign as rugby union world champions came to an end at Twickenham in one of the most remarkable matches the sport has ever witnessed. The Springboks were undone 27-21 in extra time as Australia prevailed in an astonishing semi-final showdown. Jannie de Beer, South Africa's quarter-final hero against England, levelled the scores at 18-18 with the game's final kick after seven minutes of injury time.
And although he edged South Africa in front with his sixth penalty early in overtime, Australia finished far the stronger as two more Burke penalties and a 50-metre Stephen Larkham drop goal saw them home. The match produced no tries, but it hardly mattered as a capacity, rain-lashed Twickenham audience lapped up every pulsating moment.
The Wallabies led 12-6 at half-time, only for South Africa to claw their way back, never accepting for one minute that they might be beaten and setting the stage for de Beer to book extra time. But it wasn't to be for the Springboks, who now face a deflating third place play-off in Cardiff next Thursday night after going 10 World Cup matches unbeaten.Australia's march on to the Millennium Stadium final, where they await the winners of tomorrow's second Twickenham semi-final between France and New Zealand.
But whatever happens next weekend, it will take a long time for those who witnessed it to forget a sporting occasion of pure theatre.Long after the final whistle, bewildered spectators from both countries stood dumbstruck at what they had seen unfold in front of them. This, despite the heavens opening. And later Australian coach Rod Macqueen revealed Larkham, who recently returned after a lengthy injury lay-off, had been motivated by English press criticism which had labelled him 'wooden' and 'leaden-footed'.
"Larkham is unusual and different, but he does some remarkable things,"
said McQueen. "He is an exceptional player. He has only had three Tests
back and is getting better all the time. I'm just happy to see him back
to his normal self again. "I thought we were the better team because we
carried the ball forward on more occasions and kicked pretty well too.
"We had two definite try opportunities in the first-half when deliberate
penalties stopped us. In the tri-nations we have the sin-bin to stop that
happening and I think we would have scored tries if that had not occurred."
© PA Sporting Life