by JOAN SOLEY

Photo by Bernard Papon/Pool/Reuters/Corbis
Victorious Springboks

South Africa is celebrating their rugby world championship win, after the Springboks beat England 15-6 in a tense and hard-fought final in Paris this past Saturday.

The victorious team arrived home today, led on to the concourse at Johannesburg’s airport by their captain, John Smit, to the applause of thousands of fans. The team is soon to go on tour through several major cities in South Africa,to spread the winning feeling and be greeted by ticker-tape parades.

Oh, and in case you are already losing interest, Team USA was a contender, but didn’t get far in the tournament. However, it was a measure of growth for the American team to compete at this level in a sport not nationally cared about.

The tournament was hosted by France and played in several arenas throughout the country. A few matches were played in Edinburgh, Scotland and Cardiff, Wales.

Beginning Sept. 7 with a match-up between France and Argentina—both of them would go on to play in the semifinals—the World Cup was six weeks of outstanding international performances from start to finish. Grouped into “pools” during the initial three weeks, the teams had to win within their pool to continue to the quarterfinals.

Of the 20 teams participating, fans of the sport were watching New Zealand, Australia, France and South Africa carefully. Those countries not advancing from the pool stage included Canada, the USA, Japan, Italy and Ireland.

Arcelia de la Rosa is a manager at Lucky Bar in Dupont Circle, known for their showing of European sports. She said, “Rugby is a game of Neanderthals playing with gentlemen watching, while soccer is a sport of gentlemen playing and Neanderthals watching.” De la Rosa added, “But that isn’t really fair, as it just negatively describes the size and power of rugby players, while in football (soccer) it truly is a stretch to call the players ‘gentlemen.’ ”

The Rugby World Cup began in 1987, and is held every four years. The winner in 2003, England, was not a favorite by bet makers going into Cup. Although the United States has been flooded as of late with talk of soccer star David Beckham, many Englishmen (or women) would argue the golden boy of sport is rugby player Johnny Wilkinson. He was the star and savior for England in 2003, with his infamous kicking ability resulting in the defeat of Australia.

The unforeseen (or under respected) Argentina team proved to be the dark horse of the race, beating a surprisingly overachieving Scotland to enter the quarterfinals.

The real heartbreak belongs to New Zealand, as rugby to them is what football plus baseball is to Americans—the national sport of most, the national pride of many.

To see the Maori warm-up and warning to their opponents, known as the “Haka,” performed by New Zealand’s the All Blacks, click play below: