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In addition to defending champions South Africa, England also secured their semi-final ticket to the Rugby World Cup on Sunday evening.
The semi-final field at the Rugby World Cup in France is complete. The hosts, whose trip came to a somewhat surprising end in the quarter-finals against South Africa on Sunday evening, are not in the last four. “Les Bleus” lost 28:29 to the defending champions at the Stade de France.
In the fourth and final quarter-final – the anticipated final, so to speak – there was no testing. The French, who were unbeaten in their home tournament, got off to a dream start. After just over 4 minutes they were 7-0 ahead. But the “Springboks” were unimpressed and held off the hosts with impressive physicality and great discipline.
Fight of attrition until the end
After 20 minutes, South Africa had turned the score in their favor (12:7). The French – under the leadership of playmaker Antoine Dupont, who recovered extremely quickly from a broken cheekbone – managed to equalize at 19:19 by the 32nd minute. Thanks to a converted penalty kick, they even went into the break with a small lead (22:19).
The battle of attrition continued in the second half, with the defending champions able to gain advantages as the game progressed. The South Africans came back from a 19:25 deficit and ultimately won thanks to two converted kicks from Handre Pollard.
England with difficulty against Fiji
In the other semi-final on Sunday evening, England defeated the hard-fought outsiders Fiji 30:24. The “Red Roses” initially lost a commanding lead in the sold-out Stade Vélodrome in Marseille before prevailing in the last eight minutes.
Thanks to the efficiency of their kicker Owen Farrell, who scored 20 points, the English were confidently on track for a long time. At halftime they led 21:10. But Fiji, in a World Cup quarter-final for only the second time since 2007, never gave up and thanks to two successful attempts they equalized to 24:24 by the 70th minute.
In the preliminary round, the “Flying Fijians” sensationally left the Australians behind. England successfully took revenge with the victory. In the final preparatory game, the 2003 world champion lost against Fiji for the first time ever.
On October 21st there will be a repeat of the 2019 final between England and South Africa for a place in the final. The other semi-final is New Zealand versus Argentina.