South Africa won Rugby World Cup 2019

South Africa captured its third Rugby World Cup Championship defeating a favored England team 32-12 and extending the dominance of teams from the Southern Hemisphere in the tournament.

The South Africans broke open a tight defensive struggle late in the second half behind tries by Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe. South Africa also won the title in 1995 and 2007; it is the only country to win every Rugby World Cup final it has contested.

The first half was a battle of attrition, with both teams delivering punishing tackles and several players leaving the game early with injuries. But it was the powerful South African forward pack that set the tone, forcing England into several penalties during scrums, which contributed to a 12-6 South Africa lead at halftime on four penalty goals from flyhalf Handre Pollard.

The England captain, Owen Farrell, converted two penalty goals for the English. Six minutes into the second half, South Africa won another penalty at the scrum, and Pollard converted a long-range kick to make it 15-6. But England turned the tables with another kick by Farrell made it 15-9, and for a moment the English appeared to seize momentum.

But South Africa held off the English, and then Mapimpi broke free on the left-wing in the 67th minute, delivering a kick pass along the ground to a charging Lukhanyo Am, the outside center. Am scooped up the ball and immediately shoveled it back to Mapimpi, who took it over for the game’s first try.

Kolbe sealed the victory in the 74th minute, getting the ball on the right-wing some 40 yards out and dancing around several defenders for the try that put the game out of reach. Pollard’s conversion produced the final 32-12 score. South Africa became the first team to win the World Cup despite losing a match in the pool stage. The Springboks, as the team is known, were defeated by New Zealand, the two-time defending champion, in their opening game in Japan.

Women’s Basketball World Cup: USA secures 10th Title

A World Championship three-peat has landed the US women’s basketball team a spot at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Team USA defeated Australia 73-56 in the Championship game of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Spain. In doing so, six-time defending Olympic champ Americans also became the first to qualify for Tokyo Olympic Games.

Brittney Griner, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist, scored a game-high 15 points for the U.S. Four-time Olympic gold medalist Diana Taurasi added 13 points and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Breanna Stewart had 10 points and a team-high 8 rebounds. Should the U.S. win Olympic gold in Tokyo it would tie the U.S. men’s record of seven straight from 1936-1968.

The win over Australia finished a six-game unbeaten run through the tournament for Team USA, which now has 10 World Cup titles and three in a row. Since 1996, Team USA has won 100 of 101 games and is now 18-0 against Australia in World Cup and Olympic matches. This was the first time these two teams had met since the 2014 World Cup semifinals where the U.S. 82-70. The U.S. has also won six of the last seven World Cup tournaments (the event was previously called the FIBA World Championship for Women).

Team USA featured a balanced squad, led by veterans and four-time Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird and Taurasi. Bird is the first U.S. player to appear in five World Cups and is now the only person in history with five FIBA World Cup medals. Bird, who had a game-high five assists, celebrated with her teammates on the bench in the closing minutes of Sunday’s game. The team huddled on the court after the game and applauded in the direction of the U.S. fans who were in Santiago Martin Arena.