England were left distraught and out of the Rugby World Cup after a tactical masterclass semi-final and a lion-hearted display left them millimetres short against defending champions South Africa in a bitter 16-15 defeat on Saturday.
Rank underdogs England had led all the way until the dying minutes, but while the Springboks now look to Saturdayโs glittering showpiece against fellow rugby aristocrats New Zealand โ the winners of that match will become the first nation to win four World Cups โ England were left to reflect on what might have been.
โWe came here with a plan to win the game, and we came shortโฆnot far short but short, and we are desperately disappointed,โ England coach Steve Borthwick told reporters.
โThe players should be incredibly proud. It was a tough test match tonight โ that was a proper test match and millions who watched around the world will have seen that was an intense encounter and we came out just the wrong side.
โThe players should be very proud of what they have done and continue to do as a representative of the team.โ
Nobody had given the 2003 champions a sniff of a chance here โ their form coming into the tournament had been dire โ but they kicked and squeezed the champions to within an inch of their lives, ceding the lead with less than three minutes on the clock.
In the end, it took a monster 48-metre Handre Pollard penalty in the swirling wind and rain, conditions which had suited the English throughout, to provide the dagger blow and end English dreams.
โThe contest was always going to be a good one, we always knew that,โ England captain, and scorer of all their 15 points, Owen Farrell said.
โI thought the fight that we showed throughout โฆ we thought we might have done enough to win, but congratulations to them. I felt like we were playing well, playing to our plan and showing what we were capable of.
And to do that on a stage like that in a semi-final is what we wanted to do.
โWeโre disappointed but incredibly proud. Itโs not all gone our way but to build up to a performance today and come just short to a great team like South Africaโฆ weโre disappointed but incredibly proud.โ
Looking forward to next weekโs bronze medal match against Argentina, Borthwick said the team would reflect further.
โWeโll find what weโre going to be better with. Weโll be a better team next Friday,โ he said. โIโll start having a good think about that. And weโre looking forward to finding a sense of who we wanted to be in the final on Saturday.โ
