New Zealand-South Africa battle for World Cup supremacy

New Zealand and South Africa are tied for World Cup titles, with three each, so, in addition to honours, the winner will be on top of the record. For the 'All Blacks', this is their eighth final after winning the finals in 1987, 2011 and 2015, while the 'Springboks' won in 1995, 2007 and 2019. They are the reigning champions and want to reclaim the title. The most successful team in this tournament. The next World Cup will be held in Australia in 2027.

Despite losing their opening game against France (27-13), the New Zealanders have imposed their dominance first in the group stage. That was, so far, their only defeat. He has won the rest of the matches. They beat Namibia (71-3), Italy (96-17) and Uruguay (73-0) in the group stage, then eliminated Ireland in the quarter-finals with a lot of problems (24-28). They reached the final after humiliating Argentina (6-44) in the semi-final tie.

Parallel paths

For their part, the South Africans beat Scotland (18-3) to open their World Cup campaign. They then beat Romania by an embarrassing scoreline (76-0) – the biggest ever inflicted by France on Namibia was the 96-0 – and suffered a first defeat against Ireland (8-13) to end the group on a high note. Victory over Tonga (49-18). In the quarter-finals they managed to beat hosts France in a power-to-power match, looking good for the visitors, in which the 'Springboks' won by a single point (28-29). And in the semi-final they narrowly defeated England (15-16), thus becoming the 'bogeyman' of the two major European powers along with Ireland. Two narrow wins but again a lot of hard work added up.

“We know we have a huge battle ahead of us,” said South African team coach Jack Niyanabeer. Every point and every centimeter will count in the final against New Zealand. “It will take another top-level effort to reach the top.” Only the last step remains.