It had been an absorbing, brutally physical encounter in sharp contrast to the often bitter and violent rivalry of decades gone by. Yet as befits the mutual respect which had poured through all week, so it remained in the immediate aftermath of another epic arm wrestle between those two grandees of the global game.
Accordingly, Steve Hansen felt his first duty was to pay tribute to the All Blacks' beaten foes. "What I'd like to say is firstly congratulate South Africa. It was a massive game for both teams and I guess it's disappointing that someone has to lose a contest like that. The game could have gone either way, and we're just thankful and humble that we've got the opportunity to go through to a final next week.
“In saying that, I was really rapt with the composure that our guys showed. To go in at half-time down in what was a do-or-die game and come back out and get a little bit of ascendancy and then in that last 15 minutes I think we controlled the game pretty good.”
“So I’m very proud of what our guys did. We’ll enjoy the moment because that’s what Test match rugby is about but also look forward to watching Argentina and Australia smash each other tomorrow, and then we’ll look forward to preparing for a Test match that’s going to be really, really special. You don’t get the opportunity to play in a final of the World Cup very often, so we’ll look forward to that.
“But I just want to pay homage to South Africa. We’ve played them a lot over the last few years and the Rugby Championship has been given a few smacks from up this way, but I think you saw tonight it’s actually a really, really physical competition and if you haven’t got physicality you can’t play and if you haven’t got skills you can’t play either. Yes we’ve come out on the right side tonight and on a few other occasions but there hasn’t been a lot of points in it. It would be remiss of us not to acknowledge them because they’re a very, very good side.”
Richie McCaw, having completed his 148th Test match, also expressed his pride in his team. “I said yesterday it was going to be a big step up from any game I’ve played against them in the last few years and that’s exactly the way it was. The intensity and the physicality that both teams through at it was right up there, and to come out on the right side of a contest like that is pretty satisfying. And to make a World Cup final, yeah, I’m pretty happy.”
The All Blacks' vast experience shone through, both in the way they recovered from a 12-7 interval deficit and the sin-binning just before half-time of Jerome Kaino – at which point the penalty count was 13-4 against them – and in the manner they saw out the end game.
Interestingly, they returned to the sodden conditions five minutes before the Springboks to practice some passing and catching – the cornerstones of New Zealand's pre-eminence in the sport - and changed to more of a kicking game, with Ben Smith reigning in the rain.
Aaron Smith and Dan Carter were critical to that, Carter drawing first blood in the second half with seemingly effortless drop goal from one of those lazy swings of his left boot, then dislodging the ball from Schalk Burger for the turnover that led to Aaron Smith and Carter putting sufficient pace on the ball fro Ma'a Nonu to brilliantly draw Willie le Roux and JP Pietersen to send Beauden Barrett over in the corner. Having landed a re-taken conversion to Kaino's first half try from the right touchline, Carter then repeated the trick from the left touchline.
Assistant coach Ian Foster declined to venture whether Carter, at 33, was in the form of his life. "He's in the form that we need him to be in right now. For someone who has been through what he's been through in the last few years, to climb back in and control the team the way he has is outstanding. He's reaping the rewards of all the hard work he's done."
Asked who he’d prefer in the final, unsurprisingly Hansen didn’t venture there. “I don’t care. We’re in it. Whoever we get will be tough, that’s why I don’t care. Whether they’re in blue or yellow, they’ll have plenty to play for. I just want them to bash each other to bits.”
The beers will have thus been on Hansen, though for Heyneke Meyer they will have a bitter taste. "I thought we had the perfect first half. I thought we executed well, played the right game, our discipline was 100 per cent intact, keep on turning them, putting pressure on them and build scoreboard pressure.
“In the second half I didn’t think we adapted well enough to the rainy conditions. They kept on turning us then and we made a few mistakes. I’ve always said in World Cups a drop goal can be the difference, and fair play to Carter, when they needed that he put it through. We just didn’t build enough pressure to get the points.”
Having started the tournament with a shock defeat to Japan, the Boks redeemed themselves in the eyes of many, but not sufficiently for Meyer, who said he just wanted to take “a day at a time” at the moment rather than contemplate whether he would be stay on in the job or be offered the chance to do so.
“I’m very proud. I don’t think a lot of people gave us any chance. We’ve grown as a team, we showed great leadership and the guys came through and the youngsters really matured. So I’m very, very proud of the guys but only a win is good enough for South Africa, and for me as a coach I don’t believe in loser talk. We gave everything and it wasn’t good enough. It will never be good enough if I coach South Africa to come close and don’t win.”
“They’re a quality side,” he added of the All Blacks. “They handled the pressure better than us when they came back. So I’ll always be proud but we had a chance today and we should have taken it, and we should have been in the final. So proud of the guys but definitely not happy. I’ll never settle for second best.”
A proud and passionate South African rugby man, and eminently likeable too, even amid the acute pain of losing this semi-final and perhaps his penultimate match as Springboks coach, he could indulge in some self-deprecating humour.
Asked by an Argentinian journalist for his view on the second World Cup semi-final between the Pumas and Australia, Meyer said: “I’m probably the last man you should ask; I couldn’t even get my own game right. I don’t now. All I know is that we’re now in the third-fourth place play-off which is a very difficult game. It’s like kissing your sister. The only thing that matters is being world champions. The rest is loser talk. Sometimes I don’t think I have a clue about rugby and tonight is one of those nights, so you’re probably better off asking someone in the street.”
