“The crowd swelled as the game went on. From scores to hundreds to a thousand or more, young and old, men and women, all gathered in front of the big screen in the square of Newtown Junction, in the very centre of Johannesburg.”

Jason Burke reports from South Africa:

Here’s another clip of Erasmus with some fine words in the post-match press conference:

Before I go, it might be useful to remember Kieran Read’s lesson in how to put sport in perspective:

“It’s a rugby game. And people care ... we care ... I’m a dad and that’s first and foremost the thing I want to be remembered by.”

Asked about South Africa’s dominance in the scrum today, Erasmus said the key was keeping his front row fresh throughout the tournament, by limiting their game time and opting for a 6-2 split of forwards to backs on his replacements bench:

“Look, the one thing I definitely don’t want to do here is try and sound very clever afterwards, because I know that pisses a lot of people off, when you sit here afterwards and you’re being clever about things you planned beforehand.

“I just think it’s a spinoff of the way we’ve played the previous five games with a 6-2 split as well. With a 6-2 split, you keep your tight five fresh, especially in a six-day turnaround, you know, the props we’ve played, the front rowers and the hookers...they’ve all had more or less the same amount of minutes, and if you compare that to the amount of minutes for example Sinckler and their props had, they had heavy loads in terms of playing 60, 70 minutes, whereas our guys were substituted [after] 40 or 50 minutes. And if you take that over a period of a World Cup, over six-seven weeks, then eventually in a semi-final, quarter-final, final, that at the end of the day will take its toll.”

A typically modest answer from Erasmus, but a factor than not many of us thought would be that significant before the match ... Rugby is first and foremost about establishing dominance from your front five. Everything flows from that, and Erasmus clearly got that element of his selection and strategy spot on across the seven weeks.

“Coach kept it nice and simple ... he just said keep on being physical, keep on going flat out in the scrums.”

Boks captain Siya Kolisi reflects on Rassie Erasmus’s approach for today’s final in the post-match press conference.

We are going to wrap this blog up in about 30 minutes, so if there are any burning issues you would like to address about today’s final - or the tournament in general - drop me a line on email or on Twitter.

Steve Borthwick, England’s forwards coach, was asked about South Africa’s scrum dominance, and had this to say:

“Credit to South Africa...Do I have the reasons right now? No, I don’t. It will be something to look at closely and think about.”

England prop Kyle Sinckler, who will be left wondering what might have been after that early injury, thanks fans on Twitter for their support.

“One imagined royal buttocks twitching on satin cushions back home.”

Read Kevin Mitchell’s Rugby World Cup final TV review!

Faf de Klerk met Prince Harry while wearing only a pair of pants, and I’m livid. He’s shown complete disrespect to the monarchy there, for me.*

*Only joking

“We’re all big fans of you,” Tendai Mtawarira then tells Harry. “If you have a few words to say to the boys, it would be a massive honour.”

Then the Boks try and get him to down a bottle of lager in one! And he indicates he’d do it, too, if there wasn’t a camera in his face. Lovely scenes.

“We didn’t fire a shot in that first half...It’s heart-breaking.”

Ben Youngs speaks:

Did the backing of PM Boris Johnson jinx England? It’s tempting to think so. He’s certainly not developing a winning habit when it comes to votes in Parliament or Supreme Court cases ...

So what of the future? England coach Eddie Jones refused to be drawn on plans, telling ITV’s David Flatman: “That’s for the future, but for this team, there’s no reason why they can’t keep developing.”

That strongly indicates to me, at least, that he’s not planning to be a part of the team’s future development, although that is 100 per cent pure speculation on my part. My guess is that if he were to stay on, he would want to do another four years including the next Rugby World Cup - but I suspect he may opt to call it a day with England now.

Here is the clip:

Billy Vunipola’s face - and blood-stained shirt - say it all, really:

Here’s a Guardian gallery with some of the best final photos, from Tom Jenkins:

Eddie Jones on Kyle Sinckler’s early injury and the extent to which it affected England: “He’s recovering, he’s going through the head injury protocols. Look, it’s part of the game, mate. You’ve got 23 guys, you lose a guy early, you’ve got to be able to cover it. So I don’t think that was a significant factor in the game.”

Did arriving late at the stadium impact on England’s preparations? “Not at all, mate.”

And here, Eddie Jones, Owen Farrell and Steve Borthwick facing the media after that dispiriting loss:

If full-length post-match press conferences are your thing, you can watch them on World Rugby’s YouTube. Here are Kolisi and Erasmus:

“In South Africa, pressure is not having a job. Pressure is one of your close relatives being murdered.”

Erasmus’s words there remind me of a quote by the great Australian all-rounder Keith Miller, who had been a WW2 fighter pilot before becoming a cricketer:

“Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse, playing cricket is not.”

Geo McKinley emails: “Personally I think it’s a completely false comparison to cite The Special One’s behaviour when discussing England’s embarrassing hissy fit after the match. Rugby is different and has its own standards. Couldn’t believe my eyes to be honest and thought it was hugely disrespectful to Prince Naruhito and Japan, not to mention the sport of rugby and all the fans. England really let themselves down there and set a massively bad example to young players. RFU should take action.”

We’ll have to agree to differ there, Geo, but I can see there are plenty of people taking the same view.

I’m not sure any of you really want to see a photo of Faf de Klerk wearing only a pair of South Africa pants and a baseball cap, but I’m going to post it anyway:

Kyra Mihalopoulos emails from South Africa:

“I just wanted to say that today was a remarkable event for us. I think in the beginning quarter of the game the Springboks were taking advantage of some mistakes or perhaps nerves and it started showing on the score board a few minutes in. However, England were not playing against 15 players on that field. There was so much momentum being built off the field that I don’t think could be quantified in a score or a strategy. I am only 25 years old, so I really only remember the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. Today was so deeply needed by a country that is trying (and feels like for the most part, failing) to heal the lasting effects of oppressive social and economic structures. The amount of will behind seeing Siya Kolisi lift the Webb Ellis Cup was something beyond measurement. England were wonderful opponents, but they were 15 men against a country of 57 million.”

Thanks Sean Creaven for a very lengthy email about the tournament ... here’s a small part of it which I think we can all get behind:

“WELL DONE JAPAN! They were phenomenal. No longer can they be seen as a 2^nd Tier rugby nation. They play the game the right way – i.e. the way Australia and New Zealand do – with pace, movement, passing fluency, and with overriding emphasis on attack, ever looking always for tries. Their speedy integration into the Southern hemisphere Rugby Championship will hopefully follow.”

Japan were sensational, it is true. The rugby they played in the second half against Ireland and throughout that decisive match against Scotland was a joy to watch. Against South Africa in the last eight they caused them serious problems in the first half, but were crushed in the second half.

My only reservation about throwing them in with the likes of New Zealand and South Africa is this: what if this crop of players is particularly good, and in five years the team’s level drops considerably? Would they still want to be a part of it? Admittedly, when you consider how they have improved since that amazing showing in 2015, it seems like they are on an upward curve. But it may not prove to be that simple.

Hindsight being a fine thing and all that, but there did seem to be a celebratory tone to some of the pre-match coverage in parts of the English media following that superb semi-final win against the All Blacks.

It reminded me a bit of the time before England’s crunch Grand Slam decider against Wales in March, when attack coach Scott Wisemantel spoke of treating winger Jonny May ‘like a Ferrari’. It all seemed a bit self-congratulatory back then, and England were ultimately found out by Wales, who went on to win the Grand Slam.

Speaking of Gatland and Wales, today’s result reflects incredibly well on them, considering they moved into the final 10 minutes of a semi-final against the Boks trying to find a drop-goal that would put them ahead on the scoreboard and potentially grab a place in the final. Come the last 10 minutes today, England were simply trying to limit the damage. Wales’s achievements at this tournament shouldn’t be underestimated.

Here’s a brief clip of England No 6 Tom Curry struggling to fit into Siya Kolisi’s shirt.

A Boks back-rower causing problems for his England opposite number, shocka!

Here’s a question for you: What was the best match of the tournament?

My nominations would be New Zealand v South Africa, Wales v Australia, Japan v Scotland and England v Australia, with a special mention for Fiji v Uruguay.

How about you? Which match will stick in the memory the longest?

Let’s have a look at some match stats.

England had 56% possession to South Africa’s 44%.

But tellingly, South Africa carried 369 metres in attack to England’s 201.

England made a total of 153 passes while the Boks made 97.

South Africa made a whopping 11 clean breaks compared to England’s two.

England won 93 rucks, South Africa won 64.

England made a total of 21 kicks from hand, South Africa made 26.

These are all courtesy of the official Rugby World Cup site.

Abhijato Sensarma emails, with a message titled ‘A thank you note, I suppose.’

“The better team on the day wins a match, and the better team in the final wins a tournament. It’s as simple as that, and the winners don’t necessarily have to be the best team too - as the Kiwis can attest. But the World Cup win is a much-deserved one for the Springboks nonetheless. This was a high-quality tournament with surprise packages, upsets, and gravity-defying performances throughout. Gleeful souls, broken hearts and awestruck faces are all inevitable byproducts of sports, which one can only thank the heavens above for allowing fans to witness. Three cheers to rugby, its fans, and the wish to see it live on for long!”

Beautifully put.

Highlights here, if you missed the match earlier, and even if you didn’t:

Phil James emails: “If you watched the game there were a few poor English performances that should have been 3 or 4? Cole, Youngs, Ford for starters.”

Ford wasn’t great - and although he wouldn’t make any excuses himself, it was always going to be hard with his pack going backwards as they were.

“Unity is strength,” says Ian Wright in congratulating South Africa.

He learnt that from Tony Adams, Steve Bould and the Arsenal back four, of course.

Nelson Mandela, there:

“All I want to do is inspire my kids...When I was a kid, all I was thinking about was when I was getting my next meal.”

This is another wonderful interview with the Boks’ captain Siya Kolisi, via ITV.

Bryan Habana, who won the Cup with South Africa in 2007, looks completely overcome with emotion as Kolisi talks.

“I don’t know why we didn’t play well today, and this is one of these things that happens in high-level rugby. We thought our preparation this week was good, but at the end of the day it wasn’t, because we didn’t play well...We’re going to be kicking stones now for four years, and it’s hard to kick stones for four years.”

Eddie Jones speaks to the media.

Over in South Africa, Sport.co.za has nothing lower than a 7.5/10 in their player ratings for the Boks.

There is a 9 for the No 8, Duane Vermuelen. Handré Pollard and Lood de Jager are the poor blokes with measly 7.5s. It certainly seems odd that Pollard is one of the two lowest-ranked performers, but hey, they probably cracked open the champagne two hours ago.

Andrew Sparrow emails about those player ratings: “Daly a 6? Not in the game I was watching. Poor positioning, weak tackling, and a couple of awful shanks into touch. Five at best, four would be more like it. Need a new full back, as well as a new scrum-half.

“Also, big Billy [Vunipola] seems to have been well and truly worked out. Need a Plan B at number eight as well. Poor all round, but lost to a far, far better team on the day. Kudos to the Bokke.”

Speaking a couple of days ago, Martin Johnson was asked to compare his 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning side to Eddie Jones’s 2019 vintage.

“They’ve produced the best-ever performance by an England team,” he said of their semi-final triumph. “But if they don’t win at the weekend it won’t mean anything.”

For one thing, I don’t agree with Johnson that the win against the All Blacks is rendered meaningless by losing the final. The head-to-head record between the two teams at World Cups is now 3-1 to New Zealand instead of 4-0. The memories of that day for players and fans will remain special, regardless of their disappointment in the final.

But looking at the two teams, I felt before the tournament that the England machine in 2003 was more well-oiled. The moving parts had been stress-tested repeatedly and the partnerships were incredibly well established. You can’t say the same for this England team, as much as it came together very nicely before today.

Captain Siya Kolisi and the Boks ‘take to Twitter’:

“South Africa, South Africa, we just want to thank you as a team for all your support. We’ve given everything as a team today.”

This is great, isn’t it? Hats off to them.

Jeff Docherty on email: “Surely I’m not alone wondering about the strategy of not selecting our strongest pack and best lineout to begin with given that’s clearly where S Africa wanted and needed to dominate, Kruis and Marler would have been better starting. We either made a wrong call or SA were better than we predicted. Well played SA their best game of the WC.”

Thanks Ben Winsworth for the email about the referee: “Best team won, but Garcès helped them build a foundation on which to do it… gave nothing to England, time to SA and surely missed a decisive forward pass in the try that helped to seal England’s fate. This is not sour grapes, but it would be like having a ref from Ipswich in charge of a Norwich fixture…”

Certainly, early in the game I think you can argue that Garcès was kinder to South Africa. Lawrence Dallaglio on commentary was pretty emphatic about it - and the Courtney Lawes penalty for not rolling away seemed to come remarkably quickly.

Having said that, South Africa were winning the collisions right from the start, and in that sense they were far more likely to earn a favourable decision here or there. In other words, they made their luck. I don’t buy the Ipswich/Norwich analogy, myself ...

Here we have some player ratings courtesy of Ian Malin.

George Ford - 5
Ben Youngs - 5
Handré Pollard - 8
Pieter-Steph du Toit - 7

Do you agree? Drop me a line. I think I’d have du Toit more an 8 or a 9.

Can you imagine the size of the shampoo endorsement deal Faf de Klerk is about to sign? His agent’s phone must be lighting up with calls from the marketing team at Timotei.

Meanwhile, great scenes in the Boks changing room beneath the stadium in Yokohama:

Jenny Bowen emails: “How sad that England could not respect their medals.”

I must admit, personally I think it’s up to the players what they choose to do there. I don’t remember anyone being offended when José Mourinho chucked his first Premier League winner’s medal into the crowd.

Thanks to Rodney Ward for the email:

“England seemed surprised by the intensity of the SA tackling and the v little time they afforded England to run with the ball. Without taking anything away from SA’s magnificent victory should England not have been prepared for SA to play as they did. Why did our scrums fail so often - strange to them being turned al, the time by a lighter pack. No criticism just a feeling we were not prepared for SA to be all over us as we were all over NZ last Saturday.”

I see your point about England’s preparedness, Rodney, but I’m going to have to reach for that well-worn Mike Tyson quote: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

In other words, South Africa imposed themselves physically from early on, and no matter how well you prepare, it can be quite hard to do anything about that.

As for the point about the Boks having a lighter pack - I am by no means an expert on the art of scrummaging but I know it’s not just about weight, it’s about technique and timing as well. Erasmus said he wanted South Africa to get back to basics and play to their strengths and there is no question he succeeded in that.

The Boks have only gone and filled the Webb Ellis Cup with the official tournament lager, Heineken.

A lucky escape for England’s players, not having to drink that stuff, am I right?

Eddie Jones: “It wasn’t until late in the second half that we got any power in the scrum and it’s hard playing off back-foot ball.”

Rassie Erasmus: “Six or seven months ago I started believing.”

Where do you think England went wrong today?

England proved against the All Blacks that when one team gets on the front foot early in a match, it can be very hard for their opponents to reclaim the momentum. The All Blacks were favourites going into that encounter and they barely had a sniff for the full 80 minutes. The same thing happened today, only with England on the receiving end.

All credit to South Africa because they established a stranglehold on England early in the piece and very rarely let it slip. They were dominant at scrum time, their swarming defence tended to snuff out any threat from Eddie Jones’s team when they did have the ball in hand. And on a couple of occasions in the first half, the Boks threw the ball around very nicely and stretched England’s defence with some quality passing rugby, which I suspected would feature in their gameplan, given all the pre-match talk about their conservative approach.

Thank you to Lee, and good afternoon everyone.

Many people predicted it would be a very tough task in today’s final for England against this powerful Springboks team. But no-one, after England’s exemplary victory over the world champion All Blacks in their semi-final last week, predicted such a crushing victory for Rassie Erasmus’s men. Let’s try and make sense of it all over the next few hours - I’ll bring you as much reaction and analysis as humanly possible - together with all the reaction from the Guardian’s rugby correspondents.

Please send your thoughts on the match - and the tournament as a whole - to me via email or on Twitter.

Well, it wasn’t to be for England, but you can’t argue with this South Africa team being top of the world.

That’s it from me, thanks for all your emails and sorry I couldn’t use all of them. I’m handing over to my colleague Luke McLaughlin to bring you the rest of the reaction. Bye.

Owen Farrell is looking devastated

“They managed to force our hands. It’s all aspects of the game, not just set piece and we have to all look at ourselves”

He’ll feel this defeat perhaps more than anyone, as he does take personal responsibility both as captain and simply for the type of character he is. He probably has one more World Cup in him, though.

England scrum-half Ben Youngs is offering some words.

“We’re devastated mate. It’s hard with the set-piece issues as you’re always vulnerable, and the bus being late made no difference. Thanks to everyone back home and everyone who travelled.”

Kolisi going full Kolisi post-match.

We can now have a look at all the details of how whole tournament was made up, so take a look here at our scores and everything else page

In the midst of all this happiness, spare a thought for England fans

It clearly means so much to all involved and Kolisi is the perfect lightning rod as he wears his role in all of this with so little fanfare yet so much presence.

Rassie Erasmus is telling us what this means for him

“It’s weird as I didn’t think two years ago we could do it, then in the past few months I thought we could. I’m so proud of my team, I’m proud of my countrymen and I’m a proud South African right now. We have to use this to build for next 6, 7, 8 years, we have to use this to put South African rugby back at the top”

Eddie Jones is giving his thoughts

“We struggled to get on the front foot, they had dominance and it’s hard to play on back-foot ball. South Africa are worthy winners, but I can’t fault the effort of our players, my team are hurting badly. We have no excuses and it’s not the time now to discuss my future, but this team will keep developing.”

There are tears in the stands and no doubt plenty in front of TVs where all of the SA diaspora sit across the globe and the squad enjoy the moment on the plinth with their winner’s medals.

Siya Kolisi is called forward and grips the golden cup in his hands. Up in the air it goes as the fireworks pop and Kolisi can be seen offering a quiet prayer in the midst of all the madness.

What a leader, what a man, what a moment.

It’s all smiles from South Africa, though, and for all the talk of the historic moment, we shouldn’t forget that this is a squad of mates who’ve done a bloody good job and that brings enough joy in itself. Then you add on the backstory to Kolisi hoisting the trophy and it becomes so much more.

England players all have faces like bloodhounds as they head up to collect the runners up medal and most make a show of immediately taking them off, which always seems petulant to me. Itoje didn’t even put his on, and if that proves something I’m not sure what it is.

George Ford

“We were massively inaccurate first half and couldn’t build any pressure, it’s a hard one to take. Our forwards have been unbelievable all tournament, but SA got ahead today, it’s a tough one to take but congratulations to them.”

He’s right about he first half, that mangling of possession by Vunipola and Ford in the opening minutes was a short story for the whole novel of a game.

All the talk now is about Siya Kolisi, a black Sprinbgbok captain, lifting the trophy. Anyone who knows about the history of the country and the sport of Rugby will know what this means and we should not underestimate what a moment this will be.

Here’s the full match report on this historic South Africa win.

England 12 - 32 South Africa

England didn’t get a toe in this game from minute one and you can blame them and their performance but that would take away from what South Africa have done - they were absolutely outstanding, absolutely everywhere.

79 mins. Sprinboks are on the attack in the England 22 again as they and the clock inch towards the end.

78 mins. Pollard attempts a drop goal but it’s sliced horribly, not that it matters as the engraver is already working on putting SA’s name on the trophy.

77 mins. The score is entirely representative of this South Africa performance, they have been better everywhere and will win their third trophy at what is, in the end, a canter.

England knock on again and will have to face another nightmarish scrum.

Jantjies is on for De Klerk.

72 mins. Its won by the Boks at their own scrum and de Klerk launches it to touch. England win the lineout and are punching at the SA midfield but are once again getting no change at all from the SA tackle line.

Frans Steyn is on for Le Roux.

70 mins. England are in the 22 but Watson is deemed to have knocked on as he hit the ground, it was marginal but no matter as SA have a scrum near their own line. It was Du Toit in the tackle and he has once again been utterly magnificent in defence.

Jonny May is off and Jonathan Joseph is on. Daly is moved to wing and Slade is at fullback.

69 mins, That’s the game, surely. England have shown nothing to suggest they are scoring two tries in 11 mins. South Africa, the team lambasted for so little creativity, have crafted a delicious score to potentially win the tournament.

66 mins. TMO on potential SA try!

SA penalty on England 10m line which is won without incident. Le Roux is in the line again and sends a probing chip into the corner which Daly gathers but England are forced to exit. On the return Am gathers a chip from Mapimpi and they are into the 22 and Am throws a lovely no look pop back to Mapimpi and he’s in. Ref wants to check Am was onside.

62 mins. Flag on the play as Romain Poite spotted Watson changing his lane to block Mapimpi’s kick-chase. Absoltely right decision and an entirely pointless and damaging thing for Watson to do.

Pollard is going to kick it from way downtown.

Subs.

Cowan-Dickis in on for George and Wilson is on for Underhill.

Etzebeth is off for Snyman. Which is a bit like replacing Chewbacca with a larger, angrier Chewbacca

56 mins. Elliot Daly is turned by a Le Roux kick and his return to touch is sliced horribly. SA catch and drive the lineout and win a penalty at the maul and Pollard will once again have the chance to pull his team away immediately after England get back into the game.

53 mins. Curry clamps onto Pollard on the floor after Watson’s tap tackle on the Bok and it’s not only a penalty to England but a kickable one. It’s 45 metres out and to the right.

50 mins. From the lineout it’s an SA knock-on and England finally win their own scrum penalty! Marler and Cole get a nudge and splinter the Bok pack. Farrell lines up to kick sticks.

48 mins. South Africa scrum on their own 22 is another penalty for the after Cole is pinged for wheeling. This could be the blueprint for the next 3o mins, which will be little fun for England or any neutral watching, not that SA will give one about that. And why should they?

Henry Slade is on for Ford. Farrell will push into out hald. Jones is trying everything to sort this.

44 mins. Faf De Klerk is putting in a defensive performance for the pantheon here, ferocious across the whole defensive line as his team repel everything England try, it’s all very lateral and in the end England knock on. Kitschoff and Koch are on before the scrum and SA pack powders the England eight again for another penalty. Oh dear.

43 mins. A solid episide of possession for England ends when Ford up and unders the ball to Le Roux, but England have it back again and already this all looks better from them.

England need to focus on the former in order to take the latter out of the game, Andy.

Half time thoughts

South Africa have clearly made a move to bring Le Roux into the line as an extra kicking and decision making option and this plan linked to a typically busy De Klerk and the forward power is working beautifully. For their part, England look mentally all over the place without the ball and very ponderous with it.

Shall we talk about the ref? It’s true that England don’t seem to be getting much, but when your scrum is going backwards you don’t tend to and they should address their direction of travel at set piece before they look to the ref to solve their problems. The breakdown looks a different story, with Garces giving SA a little more time to recycle when England are at them without pinging them for holding on.

But this is window dressing to the main issue that England are allowing the ref to be an issue by not doing enough basics right.

39 mins: De Klerk busily runs from the base of the ruck and throws it long to De Allende who feeds Am and the centre is through a gap. He kicks it on and Daly spills while attempting to gather the bouncing ball. Scrum South Africa on England’s 22 and the full Bok pack give it a shove and win a penalty!

37 mins: Le Roux is at first receiver and launches a deep cross kick that Mapimpi gathers in the England half. SA are spraying it left and right, which shows a real change in plan from earlier in the tournament. The Boks have a penalty for Underhill in at the side. You know what Pollard will do with this, and he inevitably calls the kicking tee on. It’s a long way out and right.

33 mins: The ball is incredibly slow coming out and the one man up carries are not working, so it goes out to Watson on the wing but the SA drift defence is up to it. It comes back all the way left to May and after 25 phases of going nowhere Garces finally calls no advantage and it’ll be a kickable penalty ...

31 mins: England secure the ball and a good carry from Underhill gets them over the gainline and into the Bok 22. Many more carries follow and they’re up to 5 metres but are repelled constantly by the green wall. There’s a penalty coming for England but still they pound near the line.

29 mins: England have a penalty for offside on halfway after South Africa worked a few phases, including getting the ball through hands to Am before he knocked it on. The ball is in touch near the SA 22 and England can go again through a lineout and must get themselves some decent possession

27 mins: Ford kicks the ball out of the full from outside his 22 and SA will have a lineout in the England half all he way back from where he kicked it.

Eben Etzebeth is down receiving treatment but looks like he can continue.

23 mins: England finally get a toe-hold and then mangle receiving the restart to give SA as scrum in the England half. England hold it up before SA pop up on their loose-head side and Garces gives a penalty to South Africa. Hmm, not sure about that, England were going backwards and Cole looked angled in a bit but I think SA popped that up.

21 mins: England finally win the lineout cleanly and start putting some familiar carrying patterns together in the 22 and win a penalty after Kolbe sticks his hands in on the floor. Farrell will take the kick for three points ...

19 mins: May marks a kick under pressure from Kolbe and after the clearing kick Du Toit is offside. England have another chance to finally do something from an attacking lineout on the SA 22.

17 mins: Another scrum, another penalty to South Africa, this time against Mako Vunipola. Jonny May jumps and punches the ball back in play from Pollard’s touchfinder and Daly sends it back up the field and into touch. That’s magnificent work from May.

14 mins: South Africa scrum on their own 10m line is solidly won and possession is kicked away to England, Ford decides that it’s time to end the nonsense and launches a massive kick to turn Le Roux around and force him into giving England a decent lineout position in the SA half. A lineout they subsequently lose as they knock on due to Etzebeth getting up and in and the way enough.

11 mins: England are frankly all over the place. From a lineout in the SA half they recycle and Ben Youngs throws a complete howler of a pass miles over Watson’s head and into touch. They have entirely too little platform and composure at this point.

9 mins: England hold the scrum this time and Vunipola picks from the base and shovels a despicable pass to Farrell which puts his captain under pressure in his own 22. He tries to run it out but Garces again does not like England in the breakdown. Penalty for Pollard to launch at the posts.

7 mins: Willie Le Roux kicks from deep and Pollard gets to it ahead of Ford in the England half. Le Roux is already more active in this game as an attacking threat than in the whole of the Wales match. England can get nothing going at present and have another scrum to deal with here and the chance for Cole to show he can hold Mtawarira back.

5 mins: South Africa’s scrum pushes England back like a wheelie-bin and wins a penalty which Faf De Klerk taps and goes quickly. It’s worked out to Kolbe who juggles and holds it before Tom Curry manages to nick it at the breakdown in their own 22. They clear after May carries it out of the danger area.

Difficult period this as all the players can only wait while Sinckler is given a proper looking at. It’s absolutely right that all the time necessary is taken, of course, as head injuries are not to be messed about with. Sinckler is thankfully awake and walking off himself and Dan Cole replaces him.

3 mins: England are putting no-one into the rucks and allowing South Africa to recycle quickly, but Garces loudly blasts his whistle as Sinckler is prostrate on the floor after he ran into Itoje’s shoulder in a tackle on Mapimpi. This looks like game over for the tight-head as he was clearly out cold.

Nothing left but to play the game now, I suppose.

Anthem Watch

South Africa’s anthem is in five languages and speaks of their love of their land and people. England’s is about a rich woman. SA win that round.

Here come the teams

The drummers are drumming for the final time as they squads file past them on the field. There’s something of a quiet swagger to England, it has to be said.

“I’m braving myself for the inevitable tears of a three-year-old when I turn off Peppa Pig to put the match on the TV,” says cruel parent Matt Dodd.

Life is basically endless disappointment punctuated with cartoons, it’s best the kid learns that now.

“Forget Canadians in a nightclub,” says Kevin Bellis, “There are a whole group of Brits & Bokke at the Global Tuberculosis Conference in Hyderabad, India – distracted from curing people.”

It’s a big game, Kevin, but don’t be distracted too long, will you?

30 minutes to go.

The teams are going through the final warm-ups out on the field, the TV pundits are wringing out their last cliches and the fans are all no doubt in the ‘one more pint/toilet demand near kick-off’ quandary.

“Hub” is literally the most erroneously used words in our modern lexicon. That and “literally”.

Congratulations to you and the family Tom. It looks like you’ve carried something far more significant than a trophy home.

Bryan Habana has just said “If South African can get their hands on Cheslin Kolbe’s balls, then they’ll have a chance.”

Interesting strategy but I’m sure they’re happy to try anything. It is a final after all.

Matthew Burrows writes, “Jack Jarvis, Emily Smith and I are watching with keen anticipation at the Lamplighter nightclub in Vancouver BC Canada!”

Rugby in a nightclub, those crazy Canucks.

Jerome Garces is the ref and he’s a strange mix of very fussy and verbose while also letting quite a bit go, especially at ruck time. This could play into SA’s hands with their counter-rucking game and frustrate England.

Ben Skeen is the TMO who treats every frequent intervention as his own personal TED Talk called “Why I like to ruin rugby games”, so that’s something to look forward to.

One thing is for sure: Sam Underhill will have a try disallowed by the TMO at some point, that’s just a regular part of his life now it seems.

“I am sorry to say,” laments Jeff Sachs, “but South Africa are not ready to beat England”

I see where you’re coming from Jeff. There have been lots of reflections on the last time the teams faced each other 2007 final and as a comparison it’s a good one. 2007 also saw a team with a powerful but limited game plan getting to the final to face the best team in the tournament and in the end the result of an SA win was entirely predictable.

The teams have swapped roles for this one and an England win looks on the cards.

Not that it’s needed, but even more import is present in the game as this is the final match for both head coaches. Jones is sticking around another year with England to oversee the the transition, which if he wins, will be nice for his successor trying to put his mark on the job - “Look mate, take my advice or don’t, but I did win the World Cup recently. I’ll be over here judging you.”

Rassie Erasmus has this week confirmed this will be his last match as Head Coach. Erasmus only added head coach duties to his Director of Rugby role in 2018 when the shambles the Springboks had become needed someone to sort it quickly. He seems to have done alright, and I assume his final performance appraisal with himself as Director Of Rugby will go very well.

“Hello Lee,” says Will Padmore, “like you I don’t think that the final will be as one sided as some have predicted. If England are to win I suspect it won’t be comfortable. 1966, 2003 and the Cricketers this year all went to extra time (or the equivalent) England do not do easy victories in finals. I’d be overjoyed with a win in normal time!”

If it goes to extra time you’ll have to make your own MBM as I’ll probably have a seizure.

Pre-match reading department.

Eddie Jones won a Rugby World Cup with South Africa the last time these two sides played each other in a final. He tells Donald McCrae all about it here.

So how’s it going to go?

Barring some tricky moments versus Australia in the quarters, England have had almost exclusively front foot ball to work with in this tournament. That will not be the case today. As physical as England have been, they have not dealt with anything like this Springbok tackle line power, and the creative axis of Ford and Farrell have not had a specimen like Damien De Allende up in their grills both as a tackler and a runner.

Added to this, the 6 forwards-2 backs split on the South Africa bench will unleash in the second half a wave of atomising power just at the time when England have usually started to shut a game down. Also, while no-one expects Eddie Jones’ men to play badly, they are also unlikely to repeat the staggering levels of performance they executed last week.

These factors suggest that the relative England cakewalk being trotted about by some is bordering on hubris.

That said, South Africa will also face some things that they haven’t contended with yet; a relentless carrying game around the fringes that has the ability to punch holes even in this fearsome Springbok defence, a rucking game that will give the likes of Pieter Steph Du Toit a far harder time, and a 10-12 axis that can use the space this will generate (however small) to hurt them.

If England get ahead by 10 after thirty minutes I fancy this game could be over, but the longer it stays tight and that Bok bench becomes the key factor allied with their kicking game out of hand, the worse it will become for the fans in the white shirts.

There’s a lot to ponder and you might as well tell me all about what’s on your mind on the Email or via tweet.