By DPA
Paris : South Africa has won the 2007 Rugby World Cup, by beating defending champions England 15-6 in a hard-fought title match at the Stade de France, outside Paris.
The tournament’s leading scorer, Percy Montgomery, converted all four of his penalty kicks and young Francois Steyn kicked another to account for all of the points for the Springboks, the name by which the South Africans are known as.
They became only the second team, after England in 2003, to win the title without scoring a try here Saturday.
In winning their second World Cup championship, Springboks put a halt to a surprising run by England, which began five weeks ago after they were crushed 36-0 by South Africa in a pool match.
The rematch between the two sides was the first title match in World Cup history between two teams that had already played each other in the pool competition.
South Africa won because they kicked better, were superior in the line-outs and made fewer mistakes than the English did.
The match began as a test of strength, with England holding a small edge in territorial occupation. The first break came in the sixth minute, when outside centre Mathew Tait fielded a kick within his 22 metre line and slipped as he turned upfield.
He was immediately covered by three Springbok defenders and penalized for not releasing the ball. Montgomery converted his 14th penalty kick of 15 attempts in the tournament, and South Africa led 3-0.
England quickly equalized after a South African turnover, when the hero of the 2003 World Cup, Jonny Wilkinson, converted a tough penalty kick from 40 metres at 13 minutes.
Just three minutes later, Montgomery gave the Springboks the lead for good with his second penalty kick, after flanker Lewis Moody was judged guilty of tripping.
At 17 minutes, Wilkinson missed a drop kick. Steyn, a certain future star for South Africa, missed a penalty conversion from 50 metres five minutes later, and the match turned into a ferocious struggle for territory as both sides resorted to clearance and position kicking.
Moody was penalized again just before half-time for coming into the ruck from the side. Montgomery’s conversion gave him 102 points for the tournament, the ninth player to surpass 100 points in a World Cup, and sent the Boks into the dressing room with a 9-3 lead.
The second half began ominously for the English as their captain, Phil Vickery, was replaced at prop by Matt Stevens after an injury. England soon also lost fullback Jason Robinson and centre Mike Catt, who had kicked well, to injury.
Montgomery kicked his fourth penalty in the 51st minute, after flanker Martin Corry was sanctioned for not releasing the ball, to restore the South African 6-point lead.
Desperately needing a try, England went on the offensive, looking for openings in the Springbok defence. But wing Paul Sackey was penalized for an illegal screen at 62 minutes, and Steyn converted from 48 metres for the final score.
The winners were the only team to go through the tournament undefeated, and had the leading scorer in Montgomery, who finished the World Cup with 105 points, and the top try-maker in wing Bryan Habana, with eight.
The one consolation for the losers was that, with his two penalty conversions, Wilkinson extended his career World Cup scoring record to 249.