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South Africa’s motto throughout the whole tournament of the Rugby World Cup 2007 has been “Shock the World”, which they exactly did. Springboks, the national rugby team, won for the second time and kicked out defending champion England, 15-6, at the Stade de France on Saturday night. The rematch was the first title match in the history of world cup where two teams had already played with each other in the pool competition.

South Africa’s first victory was in 1995 when the country hosted rugby’s biggest tournament, the world cup. With a wild home crowd cheering for them, they got hold of the most coveted trophy against New Zealand’s All Blacks, 15-12 at Ellis Park. They now join Australia as a two-time champion.

With England’s home advantage this time, the match is more of a test of strength. All the scoring came from penalties – four came from Perry Montgomery, another by Francois Steyn and two by Jonny Wilkinson. Throughout the entire ball game, South Africa managed to steal seven times at the lineout, at one point in their own line. England, however, picked up their game during the final minutes and did win a lineout but created a problem for itself. England never gave up the fight and they attacked with increasing throw out. But their inability to control their own ball at the lineout ultimately cost them much.

Before the cup, the South African players were the target of criticism because of enormous predominance of the English players. But after the finals, South African President, Thabo Mbeki, wore a blazer, held the cup, posed for the cameras, gave a speech and joined the victory celebrations.