2007 Rugby World Cup final

The England team collect their silver medals.
Event	2007 Rugby World Cup
England South Africa 6 15
Date	20 October 2007
Venue	Stade de France,Saint-Denis
Man of the Match	Victor Matfield (South Africa)
Referee	Alain Rolland (Ireland)[1]
Attendance	80,430
←2003 2011 →

The2007 Rugby World Cup final was arugby union match, played on Saturday, 20 October 2007 at theStade de France,Saint-Denis, Paris, to determine the winner of the2007 Rugby World Cup.South Africa beatEngland 15–6. Having also won the1995 tournament, South Africa became the second country to win two World Cups, following Australia, who won in1991 and1999.^[2]

England and South Africa, who won their semi-finals againstFrance andArgentina respectively, had met during thepool stage of the competition, when South Africa won 36–0.^[3] South Africa began the final undefeated in the competition. The final was refereed byIrish refereeAlain Rolland.

The match itself wastry-less with each team scoring only penalties, South Africa five – four byfullbackPercy Montgomery and one bycentreFrançois Steyn – and England two, both byfly-halfJonny Wilkinson. Each team had one major try scoring opportunity; South Africa's came late in the first half, while England's came early in the second, aswingMark Cueto had a try disallowed in the 42nd minute after he was ruled to have put a foot in touch during a tackle byDanie Rossouw before grounding the ball. Television match official Stuart Dickinson stood by his decision, though he encountered a language barrier with the French broadcaster preventing his access to frame-by-frame pictures.^[4]

Both England and South Africa were placed in Pool A along withSamoa,Tonga and theUnited States. England's first match was against the United States, whom they beat 28–10. South Africa opened their campaign with a 59–7 victory over Samoa in which they scored seven tries, four of them byBryan Habana. The two teams then met in their second match of the tournament. For the first time in their World Cup history, England were kept pointless as South Africa scored three tries to win 36–0. South Africa then rested several of their top players for their match against Tonga. Tonga came close to an upset but South Africa held on to win 30–25, guaranteeing the Springboks top position in the pool. England then played Samoa, winning 44–22, before facing Tonga in a match effectively serving as a qualification play-off; whoever won the game would finish second in the pool behind South Africa. England eventually won 36–20, scoring four tries in the process.^[5]

England playedAustralia, who had finished top ofPool B, in their quarter-final. The match was a repeat of the2003 World Cup final, with England coming out on top again, beating the Wallabies 12–10. All of England's points were scored byJonny Wilkinsonpenalties. South Africa facedFiji, who had defeatedWales to finish as runners-up behind Australia in Pool B. South Africa scored five tries to two and won 37–20. England played hostsFrance in their semi-final. Despite having less possession and territory England won 14–9. South Africa facedArgentina and scored four tries to one to win 37–13.

The match was kicked off by England's Jonny Wilkinson, whose kick was collected bySchalk Burger, before the ball was kicked into touch byButch James, giving England the first line-out throw of the game. However, South Africa stole the ball to win the first line-out of the match. In the sixth minute,Mathew Tait attempted to run the ball from inside England's 22-metre line, only to be tackled and penalised for not releasing the ball in the ruck. South Africa'sPercy Montgomery successfully converted the penalty to give the Springboks a 3–0 lead.

An up-and-under kick from England resulted in South AfricanwingJP Pietersen dropping the ball. England regained possession and passed the ball out to wingerPaul Sackey, before South Africa were penalised for killing the ball. Wilkinson stepped up to convert the penalty and level the scores at 3–3 after ten minutes. After a lot of kicking from both sides, Butch James was tripped by EnglandflankerLewis Moody as the South Africanfly-half was chasing a kick. Montgomery kicked the resulting penalty, to put the South Africans 6–3 up after 15 minutes. Two minutes later, England positioned themselves for an attempted drop-goal, but Wilkinson's attempt was left wanting as it drifted slightly wide.

After 21 minutes, Englandprop and captainPhil Vickery was penalised for being offside near the halfway line. The resulting penalty kick was taken by South Africa'scentreFrans Steyn, but he missed the long-range effort. The match continued with large amounts of kicking from both sides until the 35th minute, when Steyn broke through the England line. South Africa managed to retain possession and eventually theirhooker,John Smit, went for the try-line but was held up two metres short. The ball was eventually knocked on by South Africa and England were awarded a five-metrescrum. The scrum had to be reset several times, but the Springbok forwards were finally able to wheel the scrum through 90 degrees to force the turnover. They won the scrum on their own feed and continued to press at England's goal line before England were penalised for killing the ball. A penalty was awarded, which Montgomery kicked to give South Africa a 9–3 half-time lead.

The second half was kicked off by South Africa's Butch James, and the ball was caught by England'snumber 8Nick Easter. After stewards had dealt with a pitch invasion by infamous pitch invaderJimmy Jump, the ball was eventually received by Mathew Tait, who was able to break the South African defensive line, before being tackled metres short of the South African goal line. The ball was recycled and spread left to England wingerMark Cueto, who dived for the try line while being tackled by South Africannumber eightDanie Rossouw. RefereeAlain Rolland referred the decision to Australian Television Match OfficialStuart Dickinson to determine whether Cueto was in touch before grounding the ball. Dickinson ruled that a foot was in touch and Rolland brought play back to an earlier penalty against Schalk Burger. Wilkinson converted the penalty to reduce South Africa's lead to 9–6 after 42 minutes.

In the 48th minute, Steyn made another break for South Africa and England flankerMartin Corry was penalised for playing the ball off his feet. Montgomery kicked the penalty to restore South Africa's six-point advantage. England penetrated South Africa's 22 in the 58th minute and theirscrum-halfAndy Gomarsall chipped the ball ahead forToby Flood to run on to. However, the kick was too deep and was shepherded over the dead ball line by Percy Montgomery. Unable to reach the ball, and trying to force an English five-metre scrum, Flood pushed Montgomery in the back as they both chased for the ball, sending Montgomery into the advertising boards. In his attempt to hurdle the boards, Montgomery collided with a television camera, but referee Rolland decided not to penalise Flood. Three minutes later, just inside England's half, the English were penalised for obstruction, and Steyn kicked a 49-metre penalty to extend South Africa's lead to 15–6.

In the 67th minute, South African captain John Smit was penalised for a collision with Mark Cueto as Cueto chased his own kick. Wilkinson kicked the ball into touch in South Africa's 22 from his own half, but England lost their resulting line-out to give South Africa possession. Requiring at least two scores to overhaul South Africa's lead, England kept attacking, and Wilkinson attempted a long-range drop goal in the 71st minute but was unsuccessful.

England kept possession for long periods during the last ten minutes, but were unable to break through the South African defence. They were penalised in the 75th minute for holding on in the tackle, and South Africa continued to try to play the match in England territory. England then knocked the ball on in the 79th minute, giving South Africa a scrum. The South African forwards secured the ball, and as soon as the clock ticked over the 80-minute mark, the ball was kicked into touch. Referee Rolland then blew the final whistle, and South Africa had won their second World Cup title. This was also the second World Cup title for retiringpropOs du Randt, who was the last player from the Springboks'1995 championship team still active. He joined fiveAustralians who had been on the Wallabies'1991 and1999 championship teams as the only players at that time to have won two World Cups (they would be joined by several New Zealanders who won in 2011 and 2015, by du Randt's Springboks teammate François Steyn in 2019 and a number of South Africans who won in 2019 and 2023).

20 October 2007 21:00UTC+2

England	6–15	South Africa
Pen:Wilkinson (2/2) 13', 44'	Report	Pen:Montgomery (4/4) 7', 16', 40', 51' Steyn (1/2) 62'

Stade de France,Saint-Denis Attendance: 80,430 Referee:Alain Rolland (Ireland)

England

South Africa

FB 15 Jason Robinson  47' RW 14 Paul Sackey OC 13 Mathew Tait IC 12 Mike Catt  51' LW 11 Mark Cueto FH 10 Jonny Wilkinson SH 9 Andy Gomarsall N8 8 Nick Easter  65' OF 7 Lewis Moody  63' BF 6 Martin Corry RL 5 Ben Kay LL 4 Simon Shaw TP 3 Phil Vickery (c)  41' HK 2 Mark Regan  63' LP 1 Andrew Sheridan Replacements: HK 16 George Chuter  63' PR 17 Matt Stevens  41' N8 18 Lawrence Dallaglio  65' FL 19 Joe Worsley  63'  71' SH 20 Peter Richards  71' FH 21 Toby Flood  51' CE 22 Dan Hipkiss  47' Coach: Brian Ashton

FB 15 Percy Montgomery RW 14 JP Pietersen OC 13 Jaque Fourie IC 12 François Steyn LW 11 Bryan Habana FH 10 Butch James SH 9 Fourie du Preez N8 8 Danie Rossouw  72' BF 7 Juan Smith OF 6 Schalk Burger RL 5 Victor Matfield LL 4 Bakkies Botha TP 3 CJ van der Linde HK 2 John Smit (c) 72' to 77' LP 1 Os du Randt Replacements: HK 16 Bismarck du Plessis  72'  77' PR 17 Jannie du Plessis LK 18 Johann Muller FL 19 Wikus van Heerden  72' SH 20 Ruan Pienaar FH 21 André Pretorius CE 22 Wynand Olivier Coach: Jake White

• List of Rugby World Cup finals

• Knockout stage at rwc2007.irb.com

• 2007 Rugby World Cup
• Rugby World Cup finals
• 2007–08 in English rugby union
• 2007 in South African rugby union
• England national rugby union team matches
• South Africa national rugby union team matches
• History of rugby union matches between England and South Africa

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from September 2020