THE RED AND THE BLACK:

There had been little to separate the teams before Cane was sent off, after a video review, for an upright tackle on Jesse Kriel in the 27th minute. There have been worse tackles, delivered with greater force, but once the phrase "a high degree of danger" is employed there is usually only one outcome. Never before has a player been sent off in a World Cup final, let alone an All Black skipper.

The heart-pounding drama, though, was far from over. Kolisi was shown a yellow card five minutes after half-time for making contact with the head of Ardie Savea, encouraging the 14-man New Zealand to launch a frenetic fightback. The All Blacks had a "try" by the scrum-half Aaron Smith ruled out because of a knock-on by Savea in the buildup but then scored a legal one through Beauden Barrett just before the hour to set up a grandstand finish, with his brother Jordie missing a long-range penalty attempt with seven minutes left. [...]

No team behind at half-time has ever won a men's Rugby World Cup final and, at 12-6 down, the Bok defence was not falling for the All Blacks' deft midfield interplay. Following Kolisi's departure, though, the momentum of the contest shifted yet again and New Zealand, having turned down kickable penalties to go for the corner, deserved their reward when Mark Telea found a little space on the left and his offload was adjudged to have bounced backwards before Beauden Barrett scooped it up to score.

The final quarter was equally breathless, even before Cheslin Kolbe was sent to the sin-bin by the authoritative Wayne Barnes seven minutes from time for a deliberate knock down.

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