South Africa wins Rugby World Cup

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:12:17

South African president Thabo Mbeki celebrates the victory. South Africa has claimed the William Webb Ellis Cup after punishing the Rugby World Cup's defending champions, England, with a 15-6 win. In the hard-fought title match, Percy Montgomery converted all of his four penalty kicks to goal. Francois Steyn also kicked one long-range goal to score all of the points for the Springboks, who are now two times champions of the World Cup. "It's unbelievable. We have been building and working towards winning and, ultimately we have won the World Cup," said Montgomery, the tournament's leading scorer. England's points were all scored by the boot of Jonny Wilkinson, who kicked a penalty in each half. While England fans applauded their team's performance at the Stade de France outside Paris, the British players were bitterly disappointed with the result. "It's a shame that all that spirit counts for nothing. We gave it everything but it didn't go to plan. We are immensely disappointed," said England forward Martin Corry. MD/JR/RE - Source Presstv