Rugby World Cup: Ill-discipline costs gallant All Blacks dearly in the final analysis

It was disappointing to see the All Blacks, who dug in so splendidly to deny the Irish with an incredible quarterfinal defensive display underpinned by some steely discipline, come unstuck when it mattered most in this World Cup final against the super-charged Springboks. But they assuredly did, and despite an heroic second-half effort it cost them dearly as the South Africans ground out a 12-11 victory to defend the crown they won four years ago in Japan.

For All Blacks skipper Sam Cane, who had played so well hitherto to lead his side to this championship game, it was a hero to zero moment as he became the first player to be sent off in a men’s World Cup final when his 29th-minute shoulder to the head off South African midfielder Jesse Kriel was rightfully deemed (after review) a red-card offence.

“High degree of danger, no mitigation,” was referee Wayne Barnes’ explanation to a stricken stand-in All Blacks captain Ardie Savea. A tough assignment had just got incrementally harder, with the New Zealanders forced to play 51 minutes a man – and a forward at that – down against the brutal Boks, with seven pack reinforcements to come off their bench.

It was a nightmare moment for Cane. A minor misjudgment in height and force turned into a major moment in this furious final, which, really, had nothing in it right to the bitter end.

On top of Shannon Frizell’s early yellow for a clumsy drop to the knee of South African hooker Bongii Mbonambi, which cost the New Zealanders six early points in a tight contest, these were costly transgressions which enabled the Boks to play from in front all the way – very much their comfort zone.

The South Africans also had their own issues with discipline, as skipper Siya Kolisi and wing Cheslin Kolbe were both also yellow-carded in a massive contest full of bone-shuddering hits, surging movements, outstanding defence and pivotal moments. They made things altogether harder for themselves than they might have.

Unfortunately, it was also a contest full of interjections from the eagle-eyed TMO as he spotted all the offences that earned the cards that ultimately gave the South Africans the edge they rode to victory. It was hard to argue with the calls when put under the microscope, but does rugby really need these wonderful showpiece matches to be adjudicated by someone high up in the stands?

The biggest of achievements can be decided by the smallest of margins, and despite a heroic effort from the undermanned All Blacks for the back half of this contest, Cane’s ill-timed shot was a mortal blow his team just could not recover from, even though they gave it one hell of a lick.

Still, when all was said and done, the All Blacks could hold their heads high as they trudged off Stade de France vanquished, but very much having given their all. You could not have asked for more from Savea and his men up front, from Aaron Smith, Richie Mo’unga and Jordie Barrett and the skill merchants out wide.

They very nearly stole the most unlikely of victories and when they finally put Beauden Barrett across for the game’s only try (and the first against the Boks in a World Cup final) just shy of the three-quarter mark, off some slick work out wide from Mark Telea, they gave themselves a shot at the miracle.

Two actually.

But Richie Mo’unga’s wide conversion drifted wide, and so too did a potential late winning penalty from Jordie Barrett from 51 metres out.

This was no inglorious failure for either coach Ian Foster or his players. Let’s be sure of that.

This team had played some sublime rugby to make it to the final, and then in a combative, physical last encounter they gave themselves, against the odds, a chance of an unlikely victory.

They were one lousy point from a crowning moment to complete a remarkable 15-month transformation for a team which had looked in all sorts of trouble midway through last year. One lousy point from sending their departing legends off in style.

The New Zealand forwards matched up splendidly in a massive physical battle up front, Savea, Scott Barrett, Codie Taylor and co superb as they matched those beastly Boks every step of the way.

But though the backs threatened to break the shackles, they never really could. Telea, the Barrett Brothers, Mo’unga, Rieko Ioane all tried hard. They just couldn’t come up with the big plays that would have broken this contest open.

A word, too, on the Boks. Is there anyone better in elimination rugby than these guys? They won their three knockout matches en route to this final by a combined three points. Three one-point victories on the bounce. That’s a team that knows how to close out tight contests.

And with Cane’s absence forcing the All Blacks to dig just too deep, they had just enough in the tank to eke out the most glorious of them all to lift the Webb Ellis Cup for a record fourth time. It takes a lot to beat these blokes with 15 men, 14 was just a bridge too far.