On this occasion New Zealanders can rest easy. Not only is their team into Saturday’s World Cup final but Richie McCaw’s remarkable international career still has 80 minutes left to run. Had the All Blacks captain been cited in the immediate aftermath of his side’s rugged semi-final win over the Springboks, it would have precipitated the biggest outpouring of Kiwi angst since Trevor Chappell infamously bowled underarm to Brian McKechnie in 1981.
After 147 Test matches spanning 14 years there is little McCaw has not already experienced but this is no ordinary week and he is no ordinary player. Hence the flurry of activity on social media when footage emerged of the great man supposedly catching Bath’s Francois Louw with a sly elbow at the side of a 20th-minute ruck. When the Springbok flanker subsequently needed 20 stitches inserted in a head wound, the temptation to make two and two add up to a naughty seven was too much for some to resist.
On closer inspection of the incriminating vine, however, the case for the prosecution soon withered. The Louw blow appeared to be more of a glancing contact from McCaw’s hip as he ran past rather than anything malicious, proving yet again the need for multiple video angles before judge and jury leap to hasty conclusions. There have already been enough unsatisfactory disciplinary verdicts at this tournament, many of them affecting lesser known tier two players, without adding to the list.
Technically the 36-hour period in which citings can be made does not expire until dawn on Mondaybut McCaw should not expect any unpleasant surprises. His coach, Steve Hansen, is equally confident there is “nothing in it” and reckons jealousy might have played a part. “He’s a man that draws a lot of attention because he’s a great player, maybe the greatest player in the history of the game. If he’s not in your team, then he’s a pain in the rear end.”
There will, accordingly, be a suitably high-profile conclusion to McCaw’s international career as the All Blacks seek to become the first side to retain the World Cup. The flanker, who will be 35 in December, was in charge in 2007 when New Zealand unexpectedly bowed out in the quarter-finals and those who know him best reckon that experience has driven him on ever since. “I know that hurt him,” said Hansen, momentarily allowing himself to contemplate what one more victory would mean. “We’ve probably got the greatest skipper and greatest player the All Blacks and maybe the world has had, without getting ahead of ourselves.”
What can be safely predicted is that New Zealand will take some upsetting in the final. They were not initially at their best rugby on a grey, damp day, leaking far too many penalties and adopting an overly conservative wet-weather strategy before the forecast rain had arrived. Yet still the outcome went their way, as it always seems to. One of the main reasons why New Zealand win so often is because they are entirely unaccustomed to anything else.
This game was a perfect illustration. Even when the Boks led 12-7, with Jerome Kaino in the sin-bin, there was no sense of panic. Instead they emerged from the dressing-room at half-time and practised their passing in the pouring rain, the sort of thing most teams would dismiss as a waste of time. But the All Blacks do not think like most teams: to them it made perfect sense to familiarise themselves with the changing elements. The way they subsequently closed out the game, albeit helped by a couple of crucial turnovers, was masterful. It helps, as Hansen acknowledged, when your match squad contains 1,318 Test caps.
That composure was particularly exemplified by two of the slightest men on the field. Ben Smith was supreme under the high ball while Dan Carter once again demonstrated why there is a place awaiting him in the pantheon of all-time great fly-halves. In a game of slim margins his decision-making and kicking were hugely influential, not least his retaken conversion of Kaino’s early try after Bryan Habana was correctly adjudged to have jumped the gun as he attempted a charge‑down. As for the 46th-minute drop goal that sparked New Zealand’s revival, even Jonny Wilkinson never struck anything sweeter through the Twickenham uprights.
South Africa could not muster the same wit or poise as the second half wore on but Hansen had a point when he suggested a pounding contest had proved a point or two about southern hemisphere grit. “The Rugby Championship has taken a few smacks from people up this way but it is a physical competition,” he said. “If you have not got physicality, you cannot play and, if you have not got skill, you cannot play.”
That will hardly reassure South Africa, for whom a battered Fourie du Preez looks to have played his final Test. The Springboks were still ahead 12-10 when Schalk Burger was turned over by Carter in front of his posts and Ma’a Nonu expertly worked Beauden Barrett over in the left corner. The Boks found it hard to regather momentum, particularly after having a kickable penalty reversed for a supposedly dangerous neck roll by Victor Matfield, and their impressive grace in defeat could not entirely mask their intense disappointment.
It was the flanker Burger who best summed up his team’s emotions. “I’ve seen this movie before and it’s bloody horrible,” said the grimacing flanker.
Never mind James Bond; the spectre haunting the Boks is four more years of despondent black sabbaths. A place in Friday’s bronze final at the Olympic Stadium is absolutely no consolation.
South Africa Le Roux; Pietersen, Kriel (Serfontein, 79), De Allende, Habana; Pollard (Lambie, 64), Du Preez; Mtawarira (Nyakane, 52), B Du Plessis (Strauss, 52), Malherbe (J du Plessis, 60), Etzebeth, De Jager (Matfield, 60), Louw, Burger (Alberts, 63), Vermeulen.
Pens Pollard 5, Lambie. Sin-bin Habana 52.
New Zealand B Smith; Milner-Skudder (Barrett, 49), C Smith, Nonu (Williams, 52), Savea; Carter, A Smith; Moody (B Franks, 66), Coles (Mealamu, 66), O Franks (Faumuina, 51), Retallick, Whitelock, Kaino (Cane, 66), McCaw (capt), Read.
Tries Kaino, Barrett. Cons Carter 2. Pen Carter. Drop goal Carter.
Sin-bin Kaino 39.
Referee J Garcès (France). Att 80,090.
