Saturday’s win over
New Zealand has supporters frantically hunting for final tickets, extending flight layovers by a week, and simply wandering around Tokyo trying to process it all
So, one home nation made it.
England will play
South Africa in the
World Cup final next Saturday, after Wales were edged out 19-16 in a gut-wrenchingly tense second semi-final, settled, in the end, by a penalty kick in the 76th minute. It will be a rerun of the 2007 final, which was also the last time England made it this far in the tournament, and that year they were beaten. England’s head coach, Eddie Jones, watched South Africa from the grandstand, assiduously taking notes on the strengths and weaknesses of the team his side need to beat if this year’s going to be any different.
England’s fans out in
Japan seem pretty sure it will be, but then thrashing the All Blacks 19-7 does wonders for your confidence. And yesterday, they were all over the place anyway, trying to find their feet after having their world turned upside down the previous evening. “We All-Blacked the All Blacks”, said James Howarth, from Kent. “It was practically perfect rugby.”