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South Africa ended England's reign as world champions as they claimed the World Cup for the second time.
Three Percy Montgomery penalties to one from Jonny Wilkinson saw South Africa, who had hammered England in the group stages, lead 9-3 at the break in Paris.
England went desperately close to a try through Mark Cueto soon after half-time before a penalty apiece made it 12-6.
Francois Steyn extended the lead with a long-range penalty and South Africa held out to match their 1995 triumph.
It had been a remarkable run to the final for England, who went into the tournament woefully short of form.
They were humiliated in the group game against the Boks just over five weeks ago and although they finally found some form to reach the final, it was a bridge too far against a superior South Africa side.
The Springboks ruled the line-out through Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Juan Smith, stealing seven of England's throws, and their defence was all but impeccable throughout the 80 minutes.
After Wilkinson kicked off England enjoyed the early territorial advantage but they could not make it count as they struggled to win their own throw at the line-out.
South Africa's line-out operation had been praised to the skies going into the match and they made their mark immediately, stealing England's first two throws and preventing the champions from building an early head of steam.
When England did manage to win a line-out it was deep in their own half and led to them conceding the lead after Mathew Tait slipped as he tried to run from inside his own 22.
Montgomery, the tournament's leading points scorer, knocked over the easy kick to get the scoreboard ticking over.
England hit back after 13 minutes when South Africa failed to gather a hanging kick.
Massive second row Simon Shaw secured possession and although Bryan Habana halted a sweeping England attack with a thumping tackle on Paul Sackey, South Africa infringed at the ruck.
The penalty was wide out on the right but Wilkinson guided it between the posts to level the scores.
Both sides were not afraid to use the boot to try and get field position and when Butch James kicked ahead and chased Lewis Moody, who has struggled at times with his discipline, could not resist tripping the South Africa fly-half.
Montgomery bisected the uprights to edge the Boks back into the lead.
England upped their game and the forwards battered away to create a platform for Wilkinson to drop at goal, but his effort drifted wide.
The champions enjoyed a good spell in the middle of the half but as the break approached South Africa started to assume the upper hand.
They could have extended their lead through a penalty from Steyn, but his long-range effort drifted wide.
The inside centre is only 20 but he did not let it affect his confidence and with five minutes to go to the break he stepped past Mike Catt and beat Wilkinson and Phil Vickery to take the Boks deep into England territory.
The champions managed to halt Springbok captain John Smit a yard from the line but the Boks kept the pressure on and when England desperately infringed Montgomery stepped up to make it 9-3 at the break.
It looked as though South Africa were set to pull away but two minutes after the re-start Tait picked up a bouncing pass from scrum-half Andy Gomarsall in midfield.
The Newcastle man stepped past the on-rushing South Africa midfield and raced deep into South Africa territory before being halted just short of the line.
Gomarsall fed the ball wide and Cueto dived over in the corner, but the Television Match Official correctly ruled he had just put a foot in touch as Danie Rossouw got across to make the tackle.
Referee Alain Rolland had been playing advantage and Wilkinson, via the woodwork, brought the gap back to three points from the resulting penalty.
A fourth Montgomery penalty took South Africa back into a six-point lead and England's chances suffered a blow as veteran full-back Jason Robinson was forced off injured.
As the half progressed England, boosted by a host of replacements, looked like they might gain the upper hand but they fell further behind when they were penalised for obstruction as Cueto ran the ball out of defence.
Steyn drilled the ball between the posts from long range and suddenly South Africa were two scores clear.
England were never going to give up the fight and they attacked with increasing abandon, but their inability to control their own ball at the line-out and the breakdown ultimately cost them dear.
Every time a white shirt hurled itself at South Africa it was enveloped by a tide of green as the Springboks joined Australia as two-time world champions.
England (3) 6
Pens: Wilkinson 2
South Africa (9) 15
Pens: Montgomery 4, Steyn
By James Standley
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7052822.stm
Sth Africa 15 England 6.
Well done Softboks! What an absolutely amazing draw they got. That win was all down to Eddie Jone's soft genius and the Softbok's soft path to soft glory.
So Australia is the real winner, and by extension, the Waratahs!
Pretty boring match. Easiest world cup win in 6 rwc. Bound to happen at some point might as well be against the worst team in the world.
To the rugby try, RIP.
Laura Force Addict v Chook scrabble-off on Facebook: laura & Force Addict 0 | chook 9
Gigsa made me do it
"He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty." – Lao Tzu
This game was one about tradition, straight back to the 1870's when tries didn't actually give you points.
Well done SA, now I have to listen to many at work, and Zimbabweans who are all on the SA bandwagon
Shit game, enough said....
Proudly bought to you by a brewery somewhere....
as long as the poms didnt win.
Not pretty, but a win is a win I guess.
What does everyone think about the disallowed try? Looked pretty close to me, and glad I wasn't the one who had to make the call.
And seeing Eddie holding up the trophy with White made me queasy.![]()
I made Happy sad...
i didnt think it was a try, the english press will winge that "aussie" TMO stuart dickinson got it so wrong...
the poms are always gonna find something to complain about. they lost and they wont be able to deal with it.
Who cares....it wouldn't have made a difference if the try had been allowed anyway...they still would've lost
"Remember lads, rugby is a team game; all 14 of you make sure you pass the ball to Giteau."
Well Done to South Africa. But it was by far the worst Rugby World Cup Final Match ever. The only excitement i got was when england almost scored that try, and when a spectator did a runner. Other than that, i drifted in and out of sleep because of how boring it is.
Last night, South Africa was the winner, but Rugby was the loser. Imagine how much more exciting and better it would be if South Africa played New Zealand/Australia in the final, we can be assured of at least a try. I know both teams would probably not take any risk in the final, but still, it was scrappy and boring. England played crap with their handling errors. And i reckon because of Eng, South Africa tended to become scrappy as well. The France vs Argentina game was so much more exciting than this one.
But i guess South Africa really needed this. I guess it'll help the politic issue in South Africa and possible create more harmony there. And with some of their stars leaving for Europe next year (eg Percy Montgomery, Victor Matfield, John Smit, etc) this may be their last chance for quite a while to win something big.
I enjoyed the pitch invader too GTF, wish it had been female, and naked , and a porn star though. Maybe that would have livened things up a bit?
I can't remember the 1987 final so I can't say for sure if this was the worst performance in rwc final history, but, what the hell, it was.
Pomlandian and Softbok rugby is on a downhill slope and taking us all with it. Shame on them. The ARC final was better than this by a kabillion percent.
What a showpiece.
Laura Force Addict v Chook scrabble-off on Facebook: laura & Force Addict 0 | chook 9
Gigsa made me do it
"He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty." – Lao Tzu
south africa were just to good for england. boring but it was a top class game.
that no try was clearly a no try, his foot touched the line before the put the ball down. its their only excuse though so we should cut them some slack and let them complain to ease the pain.
i cant wait to see the poms tomorrow
You're contradicting yourself......firstly you say the only excitement was when England nearly scored a try (and were, in fact, the only team in the final who looked like scoring a try).....and then you say you'd like to see SA play Aus/NZ because you'd be assured of a try........is that because the SA defence is poorer against their Southern Hemisphere competitors & therefore more likely to leak tries.
Surely you mean that you'd rather see England play Aus/NZ because then you'd get teams who are interested in playing expansive rugby when conditions allow.
CHEERLEADERS ROCK!!!
The game put me to sleep after i'd worked so hard to stay up for it. Bring on the super 14