NEW ZEALAND 11 12 SOUTH AFRICA
Saturday 28 October Stade de France, Paris. Attendance: 80,067
In this match A day painted green and gold as South Africa became the first men’s team to win the RWC four times, maintaining their record of never having lost a final. Astonishingly, they won by a one-point margin for the third match running – after the 29-28 and 16-15 defeats of France and England – and failed to score after the fourth of Handré Pollard’s penalties in the 34th minute.
There had been only one yellow card in a final – for Ben Smith in 2015 – but here there were four. Shannon Frizell, Siya Kolisi and Cheslin Kolbe
