[imagesource: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian]

Hello there, world champ.

I mean, does it get any better than watching Cheslin Kolbe dance past Owen Farrell, and that exact moment you knew, for sure, that the William Webb Ellis trophy was coming home?

There will be video highlights galore throughout the day (and week and month), but for now, let’s get the ball rolling with some Rugby World Cup articles that are worth a look.

To begin, here’s the Guardian with a heartstring tugger titled “Springboks’ victory driven by a strain of desire few others can comprehend”:

If there has been a theme of the World Cup, a lesson for us all to take from these long seven weeks, it is this: the game sometimes runs on strange and powerful currents. It is not necessarily the sharpest, smartest, fittest, fastest or strongest team that wins, but the one who wants it most.

Listening to South Africa’s captain, Siya Kolisi, and coach, Rassie Erasmus, talk about what this victory meant in the minutes after they had won it, you began to understand exactly what England were up against and the way the Springboks were thinking about it, England had lost the match before it even began…

Really, England fell victim to one of the classic martial blunders…never go in against the Springboks when the World Cup is on the line. Twenty-four years after they won their first World Cup final, 12 years after they won their second, they have won their third. In those three finals, they have not conceded a try. It is one of the most astonishing records in sport.

The difference, this time, is they were led by a kid from the townships. Kolisi said he did not dream about winning the World Cup when he was young, because he was too busy dreaming about where his next meal was coming from, a captain leading a team who had more to play for than the likes of you, and I, and Eddie Jones, and England, could possibly fathom.

Read that full article here.

Also from the Guardian, here’s Francois Pienaar on why this moment means more to South Africa than his side’s iconic 1995 World Cup win:

After the victory over England Pienaar, who was attending the World Cup awards night here, said: “This is bigger. This is bigger because it is a transformed team, 58 million people watching in South Africa yesterday morning, and all races would have woken up wearing green, which wouldn’t have happened in my time.

“It has evolved from my time. We had an incredible moment with Mr Mandela but just the support from the nation for this team and captain.

“Seeing South Africa in the final, Siya Kolisi, the first black captain of South African rugby in his 50th game, his dad flying for the first time in his life to watch his son play. Wow. You don’t get more emotion than that. And then I see my number and the [current] South African president wearing the number, which Mr Mandela wore, and I know that Cyril [Ramaphosa] was very close to Mandela.

“It’s more than rugby in most countries but in South Africa we are tender. Our country needs to rebuild. To rebuild you need to unite and sport comes along and shows you that.

“Rugby, in particular, caters for all talents – strong guys up front, tall guys, speedy guys. They play together and it makes them a successful team and that is a beautiful story for life and for a country. Everybody needs to work together if you want to be successful. As a country, to be world champion, you all need to work together.”

1995 was always going to be tough to top, but seeing Siya lift that trophy may well have taken over the mantle as South Africa’s most iconic sporting moment.

Seth thinks you should also dabble in these articles – one about how slick the Springboks looked yesterday at the World Rugby Awards, one about how the English players are being criticised for being sore losers, and another about how poor the English were on the field performance-wise – so swing in there, if that’s your vibe.

I’ll sidestep that and head to what may be overlooked as one of the final’s more telling passages of play, which many pundits believe showed the English that they were up against an almighty force.

The Independent with “The single passage of play that decided the Rugby World Cup final”:

Forget the final score, the late scoring flurry – it was on the first-half defensive stand that this Rugby World Cup final victory was built.

For 26 phases South Africa held out, giving not an inch to England’s charges. Almost every one came under advantage – England had licence to play, a free shot to try something. Yet they could not find a way through. Time and again they forayed around the fringes, brows furrowed as they burrowed and battered on the door. It would not open.

For all the talk of South Africa’s defensive structure in phase play, this was about raw muscle. Along the line the forwards assembled themselves for each thumping carry. They hunted in pairs, relying on dominant two-tackles to repel England’s heavier hitters, and going low on those who could shimmy. Concentrating not on shearing the ball back their way, they got their hands to the ball repeatedly to slow it just enough to stall England’s ball and allow the forwards to reorganise for the next phase…

What came after made this all the more apparent. Momentum had swung the South Africans’ way. England had failed to capitalise on their chance, and South Africa turned the screw…it is those 26 phases that will be remembered. We do not know how the game may have evolved had England broken through that defensive wall, but it was the movement that decided this contest.

England threw everything they had at us, and we stood firm.

At that point, it was hard not to believe.

From Ireland, and sports site The42, comes a superb look at how Rassie has transformed this team. Headline – “How Rassie Erasmus returned from Munster to lead the Boks to World Cup glory”:

Tactically, Erasmus has taken the Boks back to the future. They have played to traditional South African strengths, of course, but that shouldn’t mean we dismiss how good they have been at what they have done in this World Cup.

Bringing Jacques Nienaber [below, with Rassie] home with Erasmus from Munster was key, with the defence coach’s reputation only enhanced in this World Cup thanks to the sublime South African defence which only conceded four tries in Japan. Their average of 0.6 tries conceded per game was the best in the competition.

Their ultra-aggressive linespeed suffocated teams and forced them into panicky errors, while grandstand sets like the 26-phase passage that prevented England from scoring a first-half try last night flooded the team with belief…

The Boks’ scrum dismantled England for five key penalties, meaning they won a total of 14 penalties at scrum time in this World Cup, with Georgia [11] the only other team to make it past 10.

Incredibly, the Boks lost just one of their 69 lineouts in the World Cup, a stunning return of nearly 99% on their own throw. They also stole 15 opposition lineouts, more than any other team in the competition.

How about that frankly ridiculous stat? 68 out of 69 lineouts won, and 15 pilfered from the opposition. Back to the article:

Physically, the Boks were outstanding in this tournament, with Erasmus having plucked strength and conditioning expert Aled Walters from Munster soon after his return home to oversee this area. The affable Welshman has proven popular and professional.

So too has 32-year-old Irishman Felix Jones [below, with Rassie], who Erasmus attempted to lure across on several occasions before finally getting his man just before the World Cup.

Jones came on board to offer analysis on opposition defences and individuals but, by all accounts, he has added even more than that, pushing the Boks to bring more intensity to their training sessions and working with individual players on their technical skills. The former Ireland fullback now has a World Cup winner’s medal.

Assistant coach Mzwandile Stick has been an important presence too, working closely with individuals like Makazole Mapimpi to bring about rapid improvements.

If you want to better understand the hardships Mzwandile Stick has endured to get to where he is today, you need to read this.

To finish, here’s Siya with how Rassie hit them hardest right from the start:

“The first meeting we had was in Johannesburg and it was straightforward – he told us exactly what we were doing as players,” recalls Kolisi. “A lot of us were getting quite a lot of money and doing all the things off the field full steam, trying to inspire people, but we didn’t make rugby the main thing.

“He told us that it had to change, the shift had to come. Rugby is more important and the Springboks are more important than our personal goals. Because there are so many people who spend their last salary to come and watch us play, and they want to see us give our best and that was the change of mindset.

“I think the most important thing that he brought in was honesty. He was always honest with all of us and he told no one else, just us as a team. It was really amazing because you always knew where you stood.”

For these Springboks, the riches will come.

You can’t put a price on that feeling, though, as the World Cup trophy was raised to the heavens, and it may take years before the players themselves understand the true value of what they have achieved.

You can read the rest of that article here.

OK, one Rugby World Cup story down and many more to come…

[sources:guardian&guardian&independent&the42]