Send them victorious: your complete guide to the Rugby World Cup Final

We’ve only gone and done it. England have made it to the Rugby World Cup Final for the first time since 2007, facing South Africa in Yokohama tomorrow. The best part? We might actually win: Eddie Jones’s team are favourites to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy this weekend — Ladbrokes says England are 4/9 to beat the Springboks. 

So set the alarm and stock up on the Guinness (and coffee): the action kicks off at 9am tomorrow. “We’re ready to go,” Jones said this week. “Hang on to your seats, because it’s the last dip of the rollercoaster.” 

From the low-down on the Springboks to the players to namecheck, here’s a bluffer’s guide to England’s biggest game of the decade.

Head-to-head history 

A recap: we’ve faced South Africa on 42 previous occasions at Test level, with the Springboks on 25 wins to England’s 15, with two draws. This will be the teams’ second meeting in a World Cup final. South Africa won the last time, in 2007, so England have got something to prove.

The heroes

Tomorrow’s final is England’s first in 12 years and a chance to make history. Saturday will be Jones’s 50th game in charge; he released his line-up yesterday morning, sticking to the team that beat the All Blacks 19-7 last week. Star player George Ford and captain Owen Farrell reunite at fly half and inside centre while Saturday’s man of the match, Maro Itoje (this year’s crowd-pleaser is “Oh-Mar-o-Ito-je” to the tune of “Oh-Jere-my-Cor-byn”), will return in the starting XV — a hat-trick for St George’s School in Harpenden, of which he, Ford and Farrell are all alumni. “My mother still wants me to be a doctor,” poetry-aficionado Itoje revealed recently. “One day I might work up the courage to break it to her that the ship has sailed.” 

Other stars include Kyle Sinckler, who suffered a calf injury during the game against New Zealand but has been passed fit to play the final. The prop, who grew up in Tooting, credits his mother, Donna, for kickstarting his rugby career: on spotting her son’s physicality on the football pitch, she took him to Battersea Ironsides rugby club. Sinckler and some friends later approached their PE teacher, Anastacia Long, about setting up a side. He still texts her before every match, calling her “Miss”. 

Know thine enemy  

South Africa might not be the favourites to lift the cup but “these players will leave nothing in the tank,” coach Rassie Erasmus said this week. “We know how the wins in 1995 and 2007 lifted the country — even if it was momentarily. We want to give South Africa that experience once again.” His team remains largely the same since the semi-final against Wales, with one (expected) change for tomorrow’s showdown: Cheslin Kolbe returns to the right wing in place of Sbu Nkosi, after being left out of the semi-final squad due to an ankle injury. Others to watch include the Boks’ scrum-half Faf de Klerk, “wrecking ball” number eight Duane Vermeulen, and legendary prop Tendai Mtawarira, whose nickname is, terrifyingly, “The Beast”. He’s likely to retire after tomorrow’s match. 

The game is a chance for the Springboks to make history too: if they beat England tomorrow, captain Siya Kolisi would become the first black captain to lift the Webb Ellis trophy. “It was really cool when Francois [Pienaar] lifted it with Mandela, it was amazing being able to do it myself with Thabo [Mbeki], but if Siya touches that trophy on Saturday, I don’t think we can explain what that can do,” former Springboks captain John Smit told the BBC’s rugby podcast this week.   

The masterminds

Behind the scenes, tomorrow’s game is a battle of bulk v brains. Eddie Jones is said to have embraced the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen, or “daily improvement”, determined to make continual incremental changes between each game and insisting after the semi-final that his team had another gear in them. 

Erasmus is promising a more physical approach. “I think we’ll try and grind it out,” he said this week. His team currently features 6ft 7in locks Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager, both weighing almost 20 stone, while on the bench will be R G Snyman, at 6ft 10ins. Bulking is key: “It’s a case of eat, sleep, train, repeat for those boys,” former England Sevens winger Ollie Marchon told The Times this week. “There is a big gym culture in South Africa, and when it comes to nutrition they are famous for their braais — endless grilled meat on a firepit.” 

Look out too for Erasmus’s lucky charm: he always wears the same white matchday shirt until his team get beaten (he’s only had to change it once this year).

Where to watch

Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 9am UK time (that’s 6pm in Japan) and the capital is rising early to the occasion: according to pub-finding app Matchpint, 2,000 London boozers and bars are expected to open in the morning for fans to watch the match. The “world’s most famous rugby pub”, The Cabbage Patch in Twickenham, is offering a free coffee or Guinness to fans who book in advance; Shoreditch’s Goose Island Brewpub is serving beer and breakfast pizza from 8.30am, while The Alma in Wandsworth is charging £15 for refillable coffee, teas, cereals, toast, croissants and a cooked breakfast during the game.

Head to the City for a luxury upgrade: Ekte Nordic Kitchen has free-flowing Bloody Marys from 8am, Broadleaf’s rugby brunch menu includes Ozone coffee and a full English breakfast pie while Brigadiers has match-day martinis and a Guinness butler service starting from kick-off. London Bridge’s Flat Iron Square has Guinness-inspired coffee. 

For Springboks fans, The Wandle of Earlsfield is where most South Africans head to watch rugby, while The Park Tavern in Southfields is putting on a full South African food and drinks menu.

If you’d rather stay on the sofa (the forecast is dismal), Uber Eats’ breakfast deliveries start as early as 7am, so you can roll out of bed just before kick-off. ITV has all the action from 8am.

The after-parties

Whether it’s commiserations or celebrations, the capital is set to keep the party going after the final whistle. Stop by YO! Sushi in Fitzrovia for a taste of Yokohama and try a pair of “propsticks” (double-sized chopsticks) for those with The Beast-sized hands, or sign up for a rugby gold pass at Queens in Queensway, which includes a Meatliquor feast and boozy bowling post-match. 

The Clapham Grand — which has put on South African beers, biltong and songs for all the Springbok games so far — is open from 7am and has a late-night DJ set with confetti blasts and balloon drops until 3am, and Skylight Rooftop in Tobacco Dock — also showing tomorrow’s game — is open until 11pm with three floors of screens, street food and lawn games. 

Book an alpine hut or igloo for mulled cider to keep the heat up. 

Beat the blues

Sunday’s post-World Cup blues might bring a sense of imminent dread but there’s plenty more rugby for fans to look forward to. The Six Nations kicks off in the new year, with Wales v Italy and England v Scotland lined up for February 1, while Japan will again be at the centre of all the sporting action when it hosts the Tokyo Olympics from July, including the sevens. Prepare for plenty more cherry blossom-inspired cocktails and 9am kick-offs in the pub.

But first: the fun part. The capital is set to host a victory parade on Tuesday if England win tomorrow, with the Mayor of London’s office currently in discussions with the RFU about a route. It’ll be quite the party if last time is anything to go by: when England won the World Cup in 2003, more than 750,000 revellers turned out onto London’s streets to celebrate.