Reuters
South African players celebrate their win over England in the Rugby World Cup final at the Stade de France Stadium in Saint-Denis.
LONDON, (Reuters):
SOUTH AFRICA, England and Argentina might beg to differ but the rugby story of 2007 was New Zealand's all-too-familiar but still shocking World Cup implosion.
The ruthlessly efficient Springboks were worthy winners of a World Cup where the success of Argentina and Fiji, the exuberance of Tonga, Namibia and debutants Portugal and a memorable quarter-final weekend overruled concerns about negative play to mark it as the best of the six played to date.
That was good news as the World Cup casts a huge shadow over the rest of the game where almost all other Test matches are now seen merely as preparation.
This is particularly true in New Zealand, where the side's domination of the sport between tournaments has become almost an irrelevance alongside their consistent failure on the biggest stage.
Four year march to France
Coach Graham Henry spent four years building towards October 20 in Paris but, despite an unprecedented no-stone-unturned approach, watched his team go out in the quarter-finals for the first time.
Henry's policy was to build a virtually interchangeable 30-man squad, where every player would be vastly experienced, and all eventualities would be covered, with key players rested from provincial games and even Tests in a bid to ensure freshness in France.
However, the policy backfired spectacularly. Some of New Zealand's leading players had almost forgotten how to play 80 intense minutes and when France, wounded and snarling after their opening game defeat by Argentina, ripped into them in the second half on a memorable Cardiff night, they faltered, froze and failed for the fifth successive tournament.
Henry was forced to reapply for his job. He was successful - though only for two years - and already the rugby world is wondering just how sport's greatest team might conspire to mess it up when they host the World Cup in 2011.
For France, having recovered from the defeat by Argentina, Cardiff proved the highlight as they lost their Paris semi-final to a resurgent England in a fantastic atmosphere in the Stade de France.
France coach Bernard Laporte bowed out with a legacy of ruining the team's chances with his cautious insistence on a kicking game that neutered their attacking instincts and left fans of French flair feeling betrayed.
Defending champions England were in disarray when they lost 36-0 to South Africa in the pool stage, but the return to action of the irrepressible Jonny Wilkinson and some old-style forward grunt helped them to turn things round magnificently as they stunned Australia, then France.
South Africa had a quarter-final scare against Fiji, whose pool victory over Wales was one of the all-time great matches, but they were always too strong for Argentina in the last four.
The Pumas had performed wonders to top the toughest group - easily taking the scalp of a disappointing Ireland - and signed off in style by beating the French again in the best-ever third-fourth play off.
They still have not got a berth in the Six or Tri-Nations, but the International Rugby Board (IRB) has taken some positive steps to ensure they keep their place at the top table.
In the final, South Africa had enough defence and discipline to keep England at bay and they took the trophy on the back of relentless efficiency without ever having to do anything extraordinary.
Scorching winger Bryan Habana, the IRB Player of the Year, epitomised their approach with his total commitment to his defensive duties in the final, while captain John Smit was a universally popular follower in the footsteps of 1995-winning skipper Francois Pienaar.
Toast of Pretoria takes off
So, 11 months after being told he was one game from the sack, coach Jake White was the toast of Pretoria, but then walked away from the job having been thoroughly ground down by the incessant politics of South African rugby.
It was not as if things were going badly there either as the Bulls beat the Sharks in a dramatic all-South African final of the Super 14.
Almost forgotten now, the All Blacks completed a hat-trick of Tri-Nations titles, while France triumphed in a dramatic finale of the Six Nations tournament that everyone thought was heading for Ireland.
The Heineken Cup was again a vibrant competition played with unrelenting intensity and ended with Wasps beating Leicester in the first all-English final, while Leicester and Stade Francais were crowned champions of England and France.
The year ended in an outpouring of peace and goodwill unprecedented in the sport since it turned professional in 1985.
First the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the English clubs announced an eight-year accord that should end their club versus country rows.
Then, in the unlikely surroundings of the London commuter town of Woking, nearly 100 "stakeholders" came together to thrash out the future and emerged with a series of agreements to address all the ills of the game.
