French captain Thierry Dusautoir was named 2011 IRB Player of the Year. New Zealand was named Team of the Year, while their coach Graham Henry was named Coach of the Year.
The full list of award winners is as follows:
The All Blacks narrowly defeated a French side that had come to play, winning their second Rugby World Cup title.
All Blacks 8 (5)
Try: Tony Woodcock
Penalty: Stephen Donald
France 7 (0)
Try: Thierry Dusautoir
Conversion: Francois Trinh-Duc
MOTM: Thierry Dusautoir (France)
Sat 22 October 14:30 | Sharks vs Cheetahs (Durban)
Sharks – 15 Pat Lambie, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Stefan Terblanche, 12 Marius Joubert, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Conrad Hoffmann, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Keegan Daniel (c), 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Jean Deysel/Anton Bresler, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Marcell Coetzee, 19 Jacques Botes, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Lwazi Mvovo
Cheetahs – 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Ryno Benjamin, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Cameron Jacobs, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Boom Prinsloo, 7 Ashley Johnson, 6 Lappies Labuschagne, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Philip van der Walt, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Marcel van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 19 Johan Wessels, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Nico Scheepers.
Sat 22 October 17:00 | Lions vs Western Province (Joburg)
Lions – 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Deon Van Rensburg, 13 Doppies la Grange, 12 Alwyn Hollenbach, 11 Michael Killian, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Joshua Strauss (c), 7 Michael Rhodes, 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Franco Van der Merwe, 4 Wikus van Heerden, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 CJ Van der Linde.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Jacobie Adriaanse, 18 Warren Whiteley, 19 Cobus Grobbelaar/Jaco Kriel, 20 Butch James, 21 Dylan des Fountain, 22 James Kamana.
WP – 15 Gio Aplon, 14 JJ Engelbrecht, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nick Koster, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Schalk Burger (c), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 JC Kritzinger.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Tertius Daniller, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Juan de Jongh, 22 Conrad Jantjes.
Match details
Date: Sunday 23 October 2011
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Kick-off: 10.00 SA 21.00 NZ (08.00 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant refs: Alain Rolland (Ire), Nigel Owens (Wales)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Teams
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Richard Kahui, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Brad Thorn, 4 Sam Whitelock, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Hore, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Adam Thomson, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Sonny Bill Williams.
France: 15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Morgan Parra, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 20 Francois Trinh-Duc, 21 Jean Marc Doussain, 22 Damien Traille.
Route to final
New Zealand
Friday, September 9: beat Tonga 41-10, Auckland (pool match)
Friday, September 16: beat Japan 83-7, Hamilton (pool match)
Saturday, September 24: beat France 37-17, Auckland (pool match)
Sunday, October 2: Canada 79-15, Wellington (pool match)
Sunday, October 9: Argentina 33-10, Auckland (quarterfinal)
Sunday, October 16: beat Australia 20-6, Auckland (semifinal)
France
Saturday, September 10: beat Japan 47-21, Albany (pool match)
Sunday, September 18: beat Canada 46-19, Napier (pool match)
Saturday, September 24: lost to New Zealand 17-37, Auckland (pool match)
Saturday, October 1: lost to Tonga 14-19, Wellington (pool match)
Saturday, October 8: beat England 19-12, Auckland (quarterfinal)
Saturday, October 15: beat Wales 9-8, Auckland (semifinal)
Recent results
2011: New Zealand won 37-17, Auckland
2009: New Zealand won 39-12, Marseille
2009: New Zealand won 14-10, Wellington
2009: France won 27-22, Dunedin
2007: France won 20-18, Cardiff
2007: New Zealand won 61-10, Wellington
2007: New Zealand won 42-11, Auckland
2006: New Zealand won 23-11, Paris
2006: New Zealand won 47-3, Lyon
2004: New Zealand won 45-6, Paris
The winners will be announced on 3rd November 2011.
Rugby Player of the Year
Schalk Burger
Bismarck du Plessis
Francois Hougaard
Pat Lambie
Victor Matfield
Young Player of the Year
Based on Ou Grote’s predictions, those of international rugby experts, and Oddschecker which combines the odds of the world’s top 22 bookmakers to give the most likely result.
Predictions
Hear the predictions of Will Carling, Zinzan Brooke, Scott Quinnell, Rob Henderson and Matt Burke:
Rugby World Cup Final
Sunday 23 October 10:00 SA – New Zealand v France (Auckland)
OuGrote: New Zealand by 16
Joel Stransky: New Zealand by 24 (33-09)
Allister Coetzee: New Zealand by 14 (32-18)
John Mitchell: New Zealand by 17 (28-11)
Garth Wright: New Zealand by 15 (25-10)
OddsChecker: New Zealand by 13+
SuperBru overall average: New Zealand by 14
Prediction: NEW ZEALAND
Third place playoff
Friday 21 October 09:30 SA – Wales v Australia (Auckland)
In this episode, the lads predict the teams for the Rugby World Cup final, talk about Lievremonts moustach, discuss Wales’ ‘Kamp Staaldraad’ in Poland, weigh up a fit Pocock against a half-fit McCaw. Zinzan comments on the Australia v South Africa game: “Stealing’s quite a regular thing in Australia”. Scott Quinnell believes that “Bryce Lawrence was consistent…”
John Smit
‘It [the Wallabies’ perceived infringement at the breakdown] was the only talking point between he and I. The message clearly wasn’t going through. I guess he (Pocock) was brilliant at capitalising on the way the breakdown was being interpreted. When you are brave and keep the ball, normally you are rewarded. That wasn’t the case tonight.’
Peter De Villiers
‘Tactically we played correctly but the breakdown was a mess. In a quarter-final you have to take your chances and we didn’t take ours. Well done to them. They had a few [opportunities] and they took them. For the rest of the time we were in control. A couple of calls never went our way, but now isn’t the time to talk about the ref.’
Victor Matfield
‘Considering the way we played, it was tough to lose like that. We always felt it was a matter of keeping the ball and getting into the right position. We felt that the wall would eventually break. Unfortunately that moment never came. Fourie du Preez came within half a metre of scoring and then there was the forward pass. So we did have our chances. We did everything to win the game but win the game. It’s heart-breaking.’
Gary Gold
‘We knew the role David Pocock would play and that he needed to be managed. Losing Heinrich Brussow was massive for us. But Flo did well when he came on. We will have to look at it again, but my feeling watching it live, there was a big issue with the daylight at the breakdown. I don’t think we could have been better prepared. We struck a good balance, we were great defensively, we scrummed well, our lineout was good and so was our maul. We also had a good balance on the bench. We felt we did a lot well, so to lose is heart-wrenching.’
Danie Rossouw
‘For me personally it is devastating. He said I sacked the player, but as far as I know you are allowed to sack the player. He gave a penalty, so I don’t know. I didn’t play him in the air. It is a sad day for me. There are a lot of guys here that I made friends with, that I wasn’t already friends with, and we became a brotherhood here. That is the saddest thing for me – we became big mates and now it is all over. We had a great performance. We played most of the rugby and we had a brilliant game. One or two calls didn’t go our way … I don’t know, we should have made more of our opportunities.’
Fourie du Preez
‘We did all the hard work tonight, and during the World Cup, to win this game, and to come up short at the end of the day is hugely disappointing. It has been a long road for us and this is a very sad exit. Any game you lose in a Springbok jersey is hugely disappointing and you don’t want to lose badly either. If you look at the way we played, we are proud of our performance tonight and that makes it so much harder to take. We felt that we were in control the whole game, even after the first half when we went to the change room at 8-3. We felt that we were totally in control and that’s just the way rugby goes. We did enough to win the game, it just didn’t show on the scoreboard. When you play against one of the best openside flanks in the world, and the ref allows him to slow the ball down, he will always be very effective. It was very tough for us, but we didn’t do enough to sort him out, so credit to him, he really played well.’
Mark Reason (Daily Telegraph)
‘Lawrence made a complete hash of the game … and the Springboks will be furious. They identified the breakdowns as a crucial area of the match beforehand, but they did expect there to be some sort of reffing. The South Africans thought that the tackler would have to release the ball-carrier. They thought that the off-side line would be respected. They thought that men would have to stay on their feet. Instead it was a shambles. South Africa will feel cheated and they have every right to complain.’