The Latest: Boks hope to avoid ‘short end of stick’ with ref

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — The Latest on Saturday at the Rugby World Cup (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

South Africa has only won one of its last 10 test matches refereed by Jerome Garces. It was Garces, no less, who was the whistler when the Springboks lost to Japan in the so-called “Miracle of Brighton” at the Rugby World Cup in 2015.

So imagine the concern in South Africa when the French referee was appointed to handle the Springboks’ semifinal match against Wales on Sunday.

“It’s important we dominate on attack and defense, so we don’t get the short end of the stick,” said South Africa captain Siya Kolisi, when asked about how the team will communicate with Garces during the game.

Garces was the referee for the Springboks’ 23-13 loss to New Zealand in the pool stage, their only defeat in 2019, and there was criticism back in South Africa at some of his decisions.

There has even been a petition set up by a Springboks fan on Change.org to stop Garces being the referee on Sunday. It was entitled, “Stop Jerome Garces, give us Nigel Owens” — a reference to the Welsh referee taking charge of the England-New Zealand semifinal.

“The most important thing is that we have learnt from that game (against New Zealand in the pool stage), and we are definitely a better team than we were at that time,” Kolisi said. “All those errors, you can blame the referee as much as you want, but there is some stuff you want to fix as well.”

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2:00 p.m.

Defending champion New Zealand and England are preparing to play off for a place in the Rugby World Cup.

New Zealand hasn’t lost a World Cup game since a quarterfinal defeat to France in 2007, is aiming for an unprecedented third consecutive title and takes a six-game winning streak against England into Saturday’s semifinal. No other team has won two World Cups in a row.

England is aiming to reach the final for the first time since 2007, when it lost to South Africa. England was eliminated in the quarterfinals in 2011 and failed to make it out of the group stage in 2015 in the tournament it was hosting.

England’s extra-time victory over Australia in the 2003 final is the only Rugby World Cup title won by a team from the northern hemisphere.

South Africa and Wales meet Sunday in the other semifinal.

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