PARIS (AP) — A seven-week, 20-team, 48-game rugby extravaganza ended with a magic No. 4 for South Africa.
South Africa won a record-breaking fourth Rugby World Cup crown, and became only the second team to retain the title, with a gripping one-point win over old foe New Zealand in Saturday’s final at Stade de France.
And so, a green and gold curtain fell on the 10th Rugby World Cup, leaving the Springboks standing alone as the tournament’s most successful team.
But with joy for some, comes despair for others. New Zealand missed out on being the first to four by the slimmest of margins in one of the tightest finals ever played. All Blacks captain Sam Cane had to watch most of it from the sidelines after he became the first man to be sent off in rugby’s biggest game.
Spare a though, too, for host France and for Ireland, highly-rated ahead of the tournament and embodying the hopes of the northern hemisphere, which has won just one world title in 36 years of Rugby World Cups. That remains the case after the French and Irish fell, surprisingly, at the quarterfinal stage.
Ireland’s singing, dancing “green army” of fans had swept across the length and breadth of France hoping for a maiden title. They were left utterly crestfallen.
France captain Antoine Dupont, considered by many to be the best player in the world, also missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity alongside his teammates to win Les Tricolores’ first World Cup in front of their home supporters.
As is always the case, the Rugby World Cup gave the sport’s popular underdogs their moment in the global spotlight.
Fiji, Portugal, World Cup debutant Chile and others showed that rugby is about way more than just the traditional superpowers as they provided some uplifting performances. Portugal will remember this one forever by winning its first game at a Rugby World Cup.
In the end, South Africa captain Siya Kolisi lifted the Webb Ellis Cup for the second time in four years and rugby history was made in the 200th anniversary year of the sport’s inception.
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AP Rugby World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
