Rugby World Cup final – New Zealand vs. South Africa: One nation becomes record world champion – Sport

The dream final of the Rugby World Cup between New Zealand and South Africa will take place on Saturday at the Stade de France. This will be the fifth time in a row that the title will go to one of these two countries.

New Zealand and South Africa, the most successful rugby nations in history, will duel in the World Cup final. In 9 events so far, the World Cup title has gone to this year’s finalists 6 times, with both teams becoming champions 3 times each. The winner on Saturday can then call themselves the sole record world champion.

South Africa wants to defend its title

South Africa lost to the “Kiwis” in the group stage four years ago. After New Zealand’s surprising semi-final defeat against England, it was the Springboks who regained the World Cup title. In 2011 and 2015, the All Blacks were crowned world champions after losing their only World Cup final against South Africa in 2007, 12:15 after extra time.

SRF expert Kurt Köhl expects a “hard-fought game in which both teams will play at a high pace”. South Africa is the team with the greatest passion and the strongest will. New Zealand, on the other hand, is tactically superior and physically fitter. You can see what else the former player and referee expects from the final in the following video.

Both with defeat in the group stage

The “All Blacks” didn’t get off to the best start in the tournament and were beaten 13:27 by the euphoric hosts from France in the opening game. As a result, the three-time world champion turned up the heat and ensured confident qualification for the quarter-finals with three convincing wins against Namibia, Italy and Uruguay. There New Zealand fought to a 28:24 victory against the previously outstanding Irish. In the semi-final there was an unequivocal 44:6 show of force against Argentina.

The Springboks also suffered a setback in the preliminary round. Against Ireland, who currently leads the world rankings, a very defensive game resulted in an 8:13 defeat. The defending champions easily won the remaining games against Scotland, Romania and Tonga. A tough challenge awaited hosts France in the quarter-finals. This was eliminated thanks to an extremely hard-fought 29:28 victory. And in the semi-finals it was a close affair. The South Africans also won against England with a minimal lead at 16:15 after a late turnaround.

New Zealand back at its best

The All Blacks have recently been in a bit of a crisis. They lost the last test match before the World Cup – against South Africa of all teams – with 7:35. And by the time the New Zealanders had lost out in the opening game against France – it was the first preliminary round defeat in New Zealand’s history – no one among the otherwise self-confident “Kiwis” dared to talk about winning the World Cup anymore.

With 5 wins in a row, they have now gained a lot of self-confidence and are going into the final as slight favorites. Whether the South Africans will be intimidated by this will only be seen after the haka on the Paris lawn.