South Africa beat Wales for final place

South Africa will take on England in the World Cup final next Saturday after a tense 19-16 win over Wales. The first half was a real war of attrition with penalties being the only point-scoring route. Handre Pollard kicked three of them in comparison to Dan Biggar’s double, meaning the Springboks went into the second half with a 9-6 advantage. Biggar levelled things with the boot early on in the second period before South Africa finally scored the first try of the game after 57 minutes. Damian de Allende bulldozed his way through the Welsh defence to ground the ball before Pollard then added the extras. However, Warren Gatland’s plucky outfit were refusing to give in and a decision to take a scrum rather than a penalty in front of the posts nearly proved to be a masterstroke. They worked the ball out wide for Josh Adams to ground his sixth try of the tournament – meaning he is the top try-scorer in Japan. The Boks won a late penalty though and the trusty Pollard was given the chance to seal the Boks’ progress. He duly converted to make the score 19-16, which it remained until the full-time whistle. It means South Africa have set up a repeat of the 2007 final which they won 15-6 in France. Wales have been denied their first-ever Rugby World Cup final and will have to play New Zealand in the third-place play off instead.