Yokohama (Japan) (AFP)

England, coming from afar, defy South Africa for a second time, moribund two years ago and won two titles on Saturday in Yokohama (09:00 GMT) in the finals of the first World Cup played in Asia. , reissue of the 2007 poster.

The Springboks then won (15-6) in France against XV de la Rose, defending champion, in a double padlocked final.

Twelve years later, rugby is clearing new territory, with this first World Cup held outside the circle of historical powers, but the Webb-Ellis trophy should once again choose its camp after an intense showdown, to the strength of the front, between the two most powerful and rough teams of the international plateau.

Under the leadership of Eddie Jones, called to the bedside after the fiasco of the World Cup-2015, where she was eliminated at home, for the first time in her history in the group stage, England has regained all its bite.

The Australian technician has made a lapped machine, sure of its game and its strengths: a package of fierce front and back clinical, perfectly conducted tactically.

Since his first day in office, Jones has said he wants to bring a second world crown to England's Yokohama (a suburb of Tokyo), the only team in the Northern Hemisphere titled in eight editions.

- England aims for Southern Grand Slam -

For that, he carefully marked the path, conceived as a patient progression, with his founding successes, including the Grand Slam in the Six Nations Tournament in 2016, a few months after his arrival, and his slaps, expected according to him, like the series of five defeats in 2018.

"Judge me on the World Cup," he said then. The hour of judgment has arrived, and to go to heaven, Jones and the English will have to realize a new and incredible "Grand Slam" of the nations of the South.

They swept Australia in the quarterfinals (40-16) and smothered New Zealand (19-7), double defending champion beaten for the first time since 2007 in the competition, and now stands before them the South African ogre.

His turnaround is even more spectacular: less than two years ago, the Springboks completed two catastrophic years, marked by historic defeats, the heaviest in their history (57-0 in New Zealand in September 2017) and their first in Italy (20-18 in November 2016).

To clean the green house, the leaders repatriated Rassie Erasmus and gave him full powers, with a double hat of coach and director of rugby of the federation.

Given the short time, he went to the basics, putting order in the ranks and in the game, refocusing the South Africans on their traditional strengths, a conquest of brazen, a package of fierce fronts and a game at the foot of precise occupation.

- The Boks to equal the Blacks -

These assets, not insignificant in a sport where the physical dimension is paramount, allowed them to bring Japan back to the quarterfinals (26-3) and then force the Welsh lock (19-16).

With their six massive fronts on the bench, the Boks will be relying on it again in Yokohama, where their second line Lood De Jager planned to "fight, by fire, the English fire".

To win a third title after 1995, at the end of apartheid, and 2007, therefore, and thus join New Zealand (1987, 2011 and 2015) in the pantheon. A South African title every twelve years, a sign?

They hope so, and so break another statistic, that no world champion has lost in pools - they lost to the All Blacks in their first game.

And so too, in a country where rugby is a catalyst for unity, "make people forget the hassle of life for a few minutes, hours, days or months," according to Erasmus. Guided by Siya Kolisi, who could become the first black captain of South Africa to lift the Webb-Ellis trophy.

© 2019 AFP