South Africa Uses Extra Time to Win Rugby World Cup Final

Joel Stransky landed his second drop goal of the game with seven minutes of extra time remaining to give South Africa a 15-12 victory over New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup final Saturday.

Stransky scored all 15 points for South Africa, including the 30-yard kick that provided the final lead, to send a sellout crowd of 62,000 into a dancing, singing frenzy.

It was the first extra-time match of a World Cup final and the first final match to end without a try.

President Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok jersey and cap, presented the trophy emblematic of world rugby supremacy to captain Francois Pienaar, capping South Africa’s return to the top in its first World Cup after being banned from the previous two because of apartheid.

The teams were tied, 9-9, at the end of 80 minutes of regulation time in which defense was dominant. The score was 12-12 after the first of two 10-minute extra-time periods.

If they still had been tied after extra time, New Zealand would have won on a tiebreaker because South Africa had a player sent off earlier in the tournament while no All Blacks were dismissed.