Boks 37–13 Argentina

The Springboks will play England in the final of Rugby World Cup 2007 after seeing off the challenge of Argentina in Paris.

The Scorers

South Africa [37]
Tries: Fourie du Preez, Bryan Habana (2), Danie Rossouw
Conversions: Percy Montgomery (4)
Penalties: Montgomery (3)

Argentina [13]
Try: Manuel Contepomi
Conversion: Felipe Contepomi
Penalties: Felipe Contepomi (2)

What they said

Jake White

The Bok coach talked about his admiration for Argentina coach Loffreda.

“I saw him before the game and told him, ‘Well done’.

“I admire Argentina for reaching the World Cup semi-final this year – it’s a big achievement for Argentinian sport and it needs to be applauded.”

“With so many players playing in France, their dynamic is different.

“Their training camp is in Paris, which is so different to what other coaches have to do. He’s done really well.”

He praised Percy Montgomery for his solid display.

“He’s a special player. The most capped – he holds something like 80 records in South Africa, and he’s proved why again tonight

“He’s a really experienced player at behaving with direction and composure.”

“The team’s gone through the highs and lows, and it’s different at crucial games. All that adversity is a huge psychological bonus.

“We’re the most experienced South African side, with the most experienced captain, the loosehead prop and the full back – all those things add up.

“We’ve got to the stage where they understand everyone, they feel for everyone. They’re all winners and it makes it easier to handle the pressure.

“It’s a world cup final, so it’s a lot different. England have a lot of players who played in the world cup final in 2003, and it’s a massive advantage for them to win away from home against Australia in that final.

“The preliminary matches are irrelevant – it’s a whole new ball game next Saturday.”

John Smit

“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that we’re in the Rugby World Cup final. We’ve achieved nothing so far. The reality is the final, and this is meaningless.

“The first one, in 1995, I was a 17-year-old and everyone in the nation needed it. The last 12 years we’ve gone from strength to strength and it’s a different South Africa. Twelve years later to rekindle those emotions in everyone is a huge privilege.

“The supporters from home, the SMS messages – they’re not sombre, but we’re aware of the responsibility of how much there is to gain in six days time.

“I’m relieved and happy we got through, although the truth is we haven’t achieved anything yet. There’s nothing in the bag, and we need to follow up on the last four years of hard work.

“For the first 40 minutes, technically we were receiving the kicks well and stuck to our guns, which showed on the scoreboard really well at the end of the first half.”

“In my 70 other tests, they’re not a World Cup semi-final, and I think there’s a physical reaction to the pressure. The experience doesn’t compare and the mere fact that there’s so much to play for.

“In a physical encounter, there’s always niggles and argy-bargy there.”

Marcelo Loffreda

“I am very proud of my team and players but we were the victims of our own mistakes.

“We were beaten by a great team – they were markedly better than us.

“South Africa are very dangerous, and when they have space or when you make mistakes, knock-ons or drop the ball, they take advantage and score. We paid dearly for the mistakes we made.

“We could not understand the referee in the first half, he never explained what was going to on in the mauls.

“We were twice done for obstruction, but they did it in the second half and they got away with it. That is what annoyed me.

“We had issues with the referee when he wasn’t saying hands off. We are used to hearing this. That is the difference between the two hemispheres.

“Nonetheless, it is not the reason for the result tonight.”

Agustin Pichot

“We really believed we could achieve something, but something was missing.

“I won’t have another chance to be a world champion, and that really hurts more than anything else.

“We have been waiting for so long, so it’s a really sad day. We did everything, but it was beyond our reach.

“We made the semi-finals and we wanted to be world champions but it wasn’t possible.”