Referee 'won South Africa the game' against England, claims Lawrence Dallaglio

English hearts were broken by South Africa in the semi-finals of the World Cup as Lawrence Dallaglio, the former No 8, accused referee Ben O’Keeffe of handing the Springboks victory with a late penalty decision.

The match swung on the Springboks’ superior front-row replacements, with weighty props Ox Nche and Vincent Koch earning four second-half scrum penalties against their counterparts, Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler. Indeed, Pollard’s match-winner came from a collapsed scrum just inside the English half, with O’Keeffe opting to penalise Genge.

“O’Keeffe is going to be the talking point as he’s won them the game - not South Africa,” said Dallaglio on ITV about the referee’s display, a week after the New Zealander was accused of “not being up to the challenge” by French captain Antoine Dupont.

Steve Borthwick, the England head coach, would not be drawn on the Kiwi’s performance, adding: “Now is not the time to be talking about things like [scrum penalties], it’s the time for overall reflections. I’m not going to do a full analysis of the game now. That’s for later in the week.”

Borthwick hailed England’s showing but admitted his side “fell a little bit short”.

“The whole team’s performance was strong,” said the head coach. “We came here with a plan to win the game and we fell a little bit short - not far, just a little bit. We’re desperately disappointed but the players should be immensely proud of what they’ve done.

“That starting 23, there were seven players aged 25 or under, the most of the semi-finalists. South Africa had one. There’ll be lots of things to take forward from this. We put ourselves in a position to beat the world champions. They’re there for a reason.

“I’ll always be proud of these players and I’m proud to be involved with England. I have two young boys at home who will be gutted and I’m sure there will be millions of others. I care about the supporters, the players and English rugby.”

Farrell, the England captain, brushed off the full-time handbags (seen in the video below) as “nothing, just a misunderstanding” before reiterating Borthwick’s pride.

“I’m sitting here disappointed but unbelievably proud of what this group has done with five months together,” said Farrell. “It’s not all gone our way but to build up to today and ultimately come short against a great team like South Africa, I’m disappointed but proud of what the team has achieved.”

England’s attention turns to Argentina on Friday night in the bronze final before South Africa hope to become just the second team in history to retain the Webb Ellis Cup - but Jacques Nienaber admitted they must improve before returning to the Stade de France next Saturday.

“I must start with paying a lot of credit to England,” said the Springboks’ head coach. “I thought they were outstanding on the night. They had a very good tactical plan and they put us under a lot of pressure. We’ll go and have a look at that in case New Zealand use the same tactic because it took us some time to get to grips with it - but they refused to give up and I’m very proud of that.”

How England’s scrum went to pieces

England’s grip on the semi-final in Paris for so long cannot be overstated. They were sensational for so much of the game against the Springboks that a spot in a fifth Rugby World Cup appeared almost certain and frankly was also deserved.

That was until their scrum went to pieces, with referee O’Keeffe heavily penalising England at the set-piece and awarding four scrum penalties to South Africa in the final 22 minutes.

Nche arrived off the bench during the quarter-final win over France to wreck the hosts’ scrum and he repeated the trick here six days later against first Dan Cole and then primarily Sinckler.

Nche’s combination with Vincent Koch, another excellent scrummager who England’s players know well from Koch’s time at Saracens, plus the addition of RG Snyman in the second row replacing a sub-par Eben Etzebeth, proved to be pivotal to South Africa’s success.

Nche replaced Steven Kitshoff on 49 minutes, not long after Kitshoff had the ball ripped from his hands in a tackle by Maro Itoje. England up to that point had gone well in the scrum, winning the only scrum penalty from O’Keeffe after Kitshoff collapsed early in the first half.

At the first scrum following Nche’s arrival, the man whose motto famously is “salads don’t win scrums” made an instant impact.

51 mins - South Africa win a scrum against the head

Right from the engage, South Africa get such a quick shove through Nche on Cole that England are unable to hook the ball back in time, forcing England up and backwards and winning a scrum turnover. Kwagga Smith, on at No 8 for Duane Vermeulen, picks up at the base quickly so it’s play on from O’Keeffe. This was a warning shot.

58 mins - Nche wins his first penalty

Sinckler replaced Cole a couple of minutes before this scrum, which took a while to set. In what turned out to be cruel timing, the camera cut away in the build-up to footage of the England coaching staff smiling and laughing as Aled Walters spoke to Borthwick and Richard Wigglesworth.

The initial scrum was reset, with a chorus of Swing Low breaking out in the background. When the scrum sets for a second time, Nche drives through a huge gap left between Jamie George and Sinckler, and the pressure on the other side from Koch forces George to pop up first, earning the Springboks a penalty.

62 mins - Nche wins his second penalty

For the first time, really, South Africa appear to have a foothold in the game through the scrum. After Ellis Genge knocks on following a tackle, Nche strikes again, this time with Sinckler dropping his bind and collapsing the scrum according to O’Keeffe. George is also under huge pressure from Koch after the engage. Tellingly, England don’t even argue the call.

67 mins - Genge collapses after George conversation with O’Keeffe

England by this stage are eager to try and get O’Keeffe back onside, which is why during a slow build-up to the scrum George tries to appease the referee regarding England’s spacing before the engagement. When O’Keeffe tells George that he wants to get the scrums going quickly, George replies that he understands and asks to make sure that the scrums “don’t go too far left”. What follows is that Genge collapses under pressure from Vincent Koch.

It’s South Africa’s third scrum penalty inside nine minutes. From this offence, South Africa kick to the corner to set up the lineout which leads to Snyman’s try, cutting England’s lead from 15-6 to 15-13.

75 mins - Genge dropping to one knee and then angling in.

The final and crucial scrum penalty, given it led to Pollard’s match-winning kick. O’Keeffe again asks England to scrum to the left to avoid engaging head-on-head.

After a reset, O’Keeffe penalises Genge for two offences, dropping down to one knee, and then scrumming on the angle. Replays here are harder to decipher, given that the moment Genge’s knee drops to the ground is not picked up.

An England knee does drop to the ground on the broadcast angle but that appears to be George’s, which would probably have led to a reset given O’Keeffe did the same for Bongi Mbonambi earlier in the half before South Africa’s first penalty.

Given O’Keeffe’s positioning, he’s bound to have spotted Genge’s knee dropping to ground even if we can’t. Watching it back, Koch (green 18) appears to be scrummaging on an angle, which George suggests to O’Keeffe, but the knee went to ground first.

Pollard kicks an excellent penalty, and South Africa take the lead for the first time with two minutes left in the match, going on to reach their fourth Rugby World Cup final.

Match images courtesy of ITV