By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) – South Africa became the first team to win the Rugby World Cup four times when they beat New Zealand 12-11 after the All Blacks were reduced to 14 men after half an hour in Saturday’s final at the Stade de France.
New Zealand captain Sam Cane, the first player to be sent off in a World Cup final, was shown a red card for a high tackle as the Springboks led 12-3 despite losing hooker Bongi Mbonambi with a knee injury in the third minute.
Handre Pollard kicked four penalties to make sure that Beauden Barrett’s try and Richie Mo’unga’s six points from the tee would not prevent South Africa from maintaining their perfect final record as the Springboks won their third game in a row by one point.
Jordie Barrett had a chance to slot the winning penalty with seven minutes left after Cheslin Kolbe was sin-binned for a deliberate knock on, but his attempt went wide and South Africa ended up celebrating their second final win against the All Blacks after their 1995 triumph.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by mitch phillips)
